Capacity Relief Still Far Off for Silicone by Kyle Brown Growth, Particularly in Asia

Home , Silicone rubber

July 29, 2019 The Rubber Industry’s International Newspaper $99 per year. $4.50 per copy Capacity relief still far off for silicone By Kyle Brown growth, particularly in Asia. Medical applica- Rubber & Plastics News Staff tions also drove the demand of precursors, RAVENNA, Ohio—Silicone supply in the though they didn’t cover the majority of the U.S. is still strained, and isn’t likely to improve volume. Non-elastomer sectors also saw growth, within the next two years, according to Erick such as beauty and health care, and coatings. Sharp, CEO and president of Ace Products and Sharp said the Asian market had some excess Consulting L.L.C. going into 2017, but constraints hit by about the Sharp described the challenges facing the middle of the year. One of those constraints was overall market in part of Ace’s free “Silicone regulatory, as the Chinese Ministry of Ecology Market Analysis” class offered through its and Environment started to increase control of iLearn Innovation Institute. pollutants after global pressure, and audits be- Some of those difficulties go back to 2017, as gan happening at silicone plants. silicone precursor demand was strongly grow- “For them to audit a silicone plant, it wasn’t ing in Asia, because of competition to make something they could do while the plant is oper- silicone materials, he said. As that demand in- ating. They had to stall the plant to be able to creased, events including regulatory factors, come in, take the sampling they needed to take catastrophic events and capital expenditure in all the different sections and do the analy- demands came together to make “a perfect sis,” Sharp said. “Operational rates went from storm” in the middle of 2017. 100 percent to down around 50 percent, with At the time, the market saw large gains some of them at 30 percent capacity during the through automotive and construction advances entire second half of 2017.” as end users became more aware of the heat Abatements for some of those audits went stability properties of silicone, he said. Liquid into 2018, as ramping back up to capacity took silicone rubber was another area of rapid See Silicone, page 22

RPN will be hosting a live-stream webcast on Aug. 15 at 2 p.m. Editor Bruce Meyer and Reporter RPN photo by Kyle Brown Kyle Brown will discuss the silicone market, regis- Erick Sharp of Ace Products and Consulting L.L.C. describes obstacles ter for free at: www.rubbernews.com/live/silicone. the silicone industry faces in the iLearn Innovation Institute's “Silicone Market Analysis” course. Tristone continues to Vibracoustic adds material development center in Germany grow Poland operation By Chris Sweeney strengthen our expertise and to ad- Rubber & Plastics News Staff dress current and future automotive WEINHEIM, Germany—As new NVH challenges, we have concentrat- mobility trends push auto makers, ed our development and engineering they in turn push their suppliers for facilities at our Weinheim location.” material science solutions. Vibracoustic said the center “further Vibracoustic A.G. is investing to strengthens its position as a leading make sure it can deliver. global automotive NVH expert by se- The firm has curing innovative, high-performance opened a new mate- and extensively tested materials for its rial development products to increase the driving com- center at its Wein- fort of its customers vehicles.” heim location where The firm can conduct analytical and 25 material experts physical material testing in the new will work closely lab. The site also allows for corrosion Tristone is adding 14,000 square feet to its manufacturing site in Walbrzych, Poland. with its engineering tests to produce quality, durability and team to support performance metrics provided by auto- By Mike McNulty lich, CEO and president of Tristone. new prototype com- motive original equip- Rubber & Plastics News Correspondent In addition, about 5,400 square feet was pounds and conduct ment manufacturers. WALBRZYCH, Poland—Tristone Flow- added to the company’s central engineer- comprehensive test- Boecking The site also in- Our special report on tech Group GmbH’s production complex in ing laboratory. ing. cludes a rheology lab- Walbrzych is growing rapidly as is the Meanwhile, on June 19, a groundbreak- The site employs about 350 total oratory to evaluate Latex begins on company’s capabilities to produce more ing was held to mark another expansion, and spans about 23,700 square feet. and refine deforma- Page 10. rubber hose and plastic pipes. this one to double the manufacturing and Investment details were not disclosed. tion and flow charac- Work on an estimated 14,000-sq.-ft. ex- logistics space at the firm’s hose and logis- “Our material expertise is one of teristics of both solid pansion of the firm’s plastic products build- tics halls within the complex. Tristone plans our key competencies and one of the and liquid materials. ing was recently completed and a grand to expand them by about 66,700 square reasons why we are a go-to partner for Boecking said it will provide its mate- opening ceremony at the site was held in feet, Froelich said. our automotive customers when it rial experts state-of-the-art equip- early June. “The group spent $3.4 million on He said more machinery and equipment comes to solve noise, vibration and ment and capacities to develop, test investments in the expanded plastic produc- will be added at the hose building as part harshness challenges,” Joerg Boeck- and evolve new materials and com- tion facility as well as in machinery and of the expansion, which is needed to help ing, chief technology officer of Vibra- pounds for both the current and future equipment,” according to Guenter Froe- See Tristone, page 21 coustic, said in an email. “To further See Vibracoustic, page 21 ©Entire contents copyright 2019 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved. THE LATEX CONFERENCE INTERNATIONAL OPENS THIS WEEK, REGISTER NOW! RubberNews.com/LatexEvent CONFERENCE Details on page 17

AUG 6 7 | HILTON AKRON/FAIRLAWN AKRON, OH, USA Great products always get a customer’s attention. Great service is what keeps them coming back.

Since 1929, Akrochem has provided a comprehensive assortment of compounding materials and color concentrates. All of our products re ect the dedication of the industry’s top experts working in our labs and on our sales and technical support team.

Come for our products. Stay for our service. Call us today.

Akron, OH | Chino, CA | Norton, OH | Stow, OH akrochem.com 800.321.2260 www.rubbernews.com Rubber & Plastics News • July 29, 2019 3

Dip in demand drives Trelleborg to cut 700 jobs Toyo to expand in Georgia again TRELLEBORG, Sweden—Trelleborg A.B. is set to initiate cost-cutting measures that will involve “targeted personnel reductions,” in response to declining demand. By not filling vacancies, reviewing the need of temporary employees and terminating per- manent contracts, the company expects to reduce the number of employees by about 700 people, a company spokeswoman said. She added that the cuts will mainly affect Trelleborg Wheel Systems and Trelle- borg Industrial Solutions. “We need to internally review our set-up and have the necessary discussions with unions. So we believe the majority of the work force will leave Trelleborg during 2020,” the spokeswoman said. In its quarterly financial statement issued July 18, Trelleborg noted a “trend shifted” during the second quarter of 2019, as a downturn in June reversed the improvements observed in May and April. Intensified political tension and escalated global trade conflicts are impacting market sentiment across different sectors, making it difficult to forecast the near future, CEO and President Peter Nilsson said. He said the company has initiated mea- Toyo Tire is in the midst of its fifth round of expansion activity at its White, Ga., manufacturing site. sures to reduce costs that will generate nonrecurring costs of about $53.1 million. By Chris Sweeney recently added 254,000-sq.-ft. pro- technical capabilities. The company Rubber & Plastics News Staff duction hall, which represents a $125 said this expansion will support its Nike to add soles production WHITE, Ga.—Toyo Tire Corp.’s million investment. already substantial capacity for the North American production facility is The spokeswoman said the site larger-rim diameter tires that are in in Arizona with new plant continuing along its growth path. currently employs 1,900 and produc- high demand in North America for GOODYEAR, Ariz.—Athletic shoe giant The firm is moving ahead with an es about 11.5 million tires per year. pickup trucks and larger SUVs. Nike Inc. is planning to invest at least $184 expansion disclosed in 2017 at its fa- “As the light truck, SUV and CUV The spokeswoman said Toyo prod- million in a plant in Goodyear for its Nike cility in White. This time it will boost market segments continue to expand, ucts included in the expansion include Air soles. capacity by nearly 10 percent to 13.9 as well as the all-weather category the Open Country M/T, Open Coun- The Nike Air Manufacturing Innovation million passenger and light truck for a diverse range of vehicle types, try A/T, Open Country R/T, Open plant will employ 500 and is expected to go tires annually by January 2021. we see opportunities to increase sales Country H/T, Open Country C/T and into production in 2020. It will become Ni- Toyo is budgeting nearly $65 mil- and market share,” the spokeswoman Open Country Q/T. It also will ex- ke’s third U.S. manufacturing facility dedi- lion for the project, which is part of said. “Further expansion of TNA’s pand production for the Nitto brand’s cated to the Nike Air models. The other two the site’s fifth phase of expansions. A production capacity is necessary to Mud Grappler M/T, Trail Grappler are in Beaverton, Ore., and St. Charles, Mo. company spokeswoman said in an meet those growth needs in an effi- M/T, Dura Grappler H/T, Ridge Nike added that 50 percent of each Nike email that it has invested more than cient manner. Doing so will enable us Grappler and Terra Grappler A/T. Air sole is made of manufacturing waste, $1 billion at the facility since it to continue to service our customers “Market demand for light trucks which the company said has led to 57 million opened in 2005. with high fill rates and maintain a and sport-utility and crossover vehi- pounds of manufacturing waste being divert- This expansion will add about 120 competitive advantage.” cles have fueled the growth of these ed from landfills from May 2018 to May 2019. new jobs and increase production at Toyo said the expansion will sup- tire lines,” the spokeswoman said. the 3.25 million-sq.-ft. facility by 1.2 port its strategy to increase sales in White is considered the largest of million tires per year by 2021. Toyo North America by optimizing the Toyo’s seven tire plants worldwide INSIDE THIS EDITION said the project will involve installing product mix to reflect market trends and produced its 50 millionth tire in new manufacturing equipment to its and improving development and January. Rogers happy with deal Rogers Corp. is still finding ways to benefit from and integrate Griswold L.L.C.’s capa- ITC hears arguments on steel wheel duties bilities one year after it acquired the producer By Miles Moore Grunfeld, Desiderio, Lebowitz, Silverman & Klestadt of custom engineered cellular elastomer and Rubber & Plastics News Staff L.L.C., who represented the importers. high performance polyurethane. . . . . Page 4 WASHINGTON—Competing narratives were advanced According to figures from Commerce, Chinese steel at a July 9 hearing at the International Trade Commis- trailer wheel imports to the U.S. grew from 2.2 million AI pushes tire industry sion, which is in the final stages of an investigation of worth $60.4 million in 2015 to 4 million worth $89.8 mil- Artificial intelligence is beginning to trans- Chinese imports of steel wheels with rim diameters of 12 lion in 2017. form the basic concepts of the tire industry, to 16.5 inches. Schutzman, however, argued that Dexstar sells its prod- according to speakers at the recent Tire & One side argued that subsidized steel trailer wheel exports ucts mainly to sister companies that are in the U.S. owned Rubber Summit hosted by the Tire and Rub- from China, sold in the U.S. at less than fair value, caused by Kenda, essentially ignoring those companies’ domestic ber Association of Canada...... Page 6 material injury to U.S. manufacturers of those wheels. competitors. Chinese wheel suppliers, however, argued that they “U.S. trailer manufacturers say they cannot purchase Hillenbrand acquiring Milacron simply outdid domestic wheel makers in quality, supply wheels from U.S. producers,” Schutzman said. He added and on-time delivery. that those manufacturers specifically called out Dexstar Hillebrand Inc. has reached a deal to buy Elkhart, Ind.-based Dexstar Wheel Co., a division of as being unresponsive to their needs. Milacron Holdings Corp. in a merger that Americana Development Inc./Kenda Rubber Industrial For its part, Dexstar argued that it was the importers will create a more diversified machinery Co. Ltd., petitioned the ITC in August 2018 for relief who were mischaracterizing the steel wheel market. company...... Page 19 against Chinese steel trailer wheel imports under Sections Despite the importers’ assertions, Dexstar doesn’t al- 701 and 731 of the Trade Act. ways sell to related companies, according to P. Jeffrey DEPARTMENTS On July 2, the U.S. Department of Commerce levied Pizzola, chief financial and operating officer of Americana countervailing duty rates of 388.71 percent against Zheji- Development. ang Jingu Co. Ltd., 386.45 percent against Xingmin Intel- “Major unrelated assemblers have purchased from Dex- ...... Calendar 18 ligent Transportation Systems Group, and 387.88 percent star when Dexstar has been able to be competitive with ...... Editorials 8 against all other importers of Chinese steel trailer wheels. Chinese prices,” Pizzola said...... From the web 9 Commerce also issued antidumping duty rates of 38.27 Accompanying Pizzola and his colleagues were repre- ...... Obituary 4 percent against Changzhou Chungang Machinery Co. sentatives of U.S. companies unrelated to Dexstar who ...... Technical notebook 15 Ltd., with a cash deposit rate of 16.57 percent, and 44.57 testified that they can get steel wheels from Dexstar of Vol. 48, No. 26. July 29, 2019—Rubber & Plastics News percent against all other importers, with a cash deposit high quality and in the quantity they need. (ISSN 0300-6123) is published bi-weekly, except the last week in December by Crain Communications Inc. rate of 22.65 percent. “In my view, Dexstar’s U.S. wheels will stack up against Periodical postage paid at Akron and at additional mailing At the ITC hearing, however, representatives of the anything, anywhere,” said Anthony Mountain, president offices. Address all subscription correspondence to: Chinese importers characterized the steep tariffs as a se- of Homesteader Inc., a Tennessee-based producer of cargo, Circulation Department, Rubber & Plastics News, 1155 Gratiot Ave., Detroit, Mich. 48207-2912. Postmaster: Send rious misreading of the steel trailer wheel market. hydraulic dump and horse trailers. address changes to: Rubber & Plastics News, Circulation “You need to look beyond the raw data toward the criti- The ITC is scheduled to make its final determination on Dept., 1155 Gratiot Ave., Detroit, Mich. 48207-2912. cal aspects of competition in the market,” said Max F. material injury in the steel trailer wheel case on or about Schutzman, an attorney for the Washington law firm of Aug. 15. 4 Rubber & Plastics News • July 29, 2019 www.rubbernews.com Rogers plans market growth for Griswold By Kyle Brown successes that Griswold Rubber & Plastics News Staff has had, but just at a lit- MOOSUP, Conn.—One year after tle bit more of a global Rogers Corp. acquired Griswold L.L.C., scale,” Sherman said. the two companies are finding new ways Another strategic fit to integrate and benefit each other. for Rogers is that it has That interaction is part of what makes more of an industrial fo- Dave Sherman, senior product line man- cused team, where Gris- ager at Rogers, excited to take on a new wold has tended to be role as sponge senior product manager more consumer focused. for Griswold, a manufacturer of custom It has strong applications engineered cellular elastomer and high in markets like yoga performance polyurethane, he said. mats, mouse pads and “We’ve been lucky that this integration footwear, Sherman said. as a whole has a couple very good things But with the more indus- going for it. One is that the cultures of trial guidance of Rogers, the two companies were very similar in Griswold can look to being customer-focused, developing prod- wider markets and sell- ucts for a particular customer rather ing based on a specifica- than for a broad commodity market,” tion rather than whether Griswold’s Moosup, Conn., location is near the Rogers’ research and development site, allowing Sherman said. a product feels good for a easier collaboration between the two teams. That takes a way of thinking and consumer. building interior systems of development “Another thing I think man said. That team is looking at Gris- that Rogers has never worked in. and operations to be flexible Rogers brings to Griswold is a wold’s processes and Rogers will be in- “We hope to be adding to our family of enough to meet individual cus- hope to industrialize new prod- vesting in the future. While some might chemistries that we have to offer in foam tomer needs, a similar mindset ucts as well, make them more acquire a new company and disintegrate and sponge products,” he said. “Today for both companies, he said. industrial,” he said. “That fits its parts into the larger organization, we offer neoprene and EPDM, but we Griswold also has always had in with my role, because I know that’s not the goal for Rogers. The compa- think there’s a great opportunity to for- strong products that fit custom- this market well, and it’s often ny is starting with a focus on processes mulate those to meet specific customer er specifications, and deep rela- just a small tweak to make a that make Griswold’s overall integration needs, where today we have a very basic tionships. Even before last July’s product meet a specification easier, including updating systems and offering. We think there’s a great room acquisition, Rogers had wanted that can earn it a place in auto- investing in safety procedures to set a for expansion.” to bring Griswold into its fold, motive, as an example.” baseline for long-term growth. Sherman said he’s particularly excited Sherman said. Global automotive serves as a “We have a good capacity, so we don’t about EPDM as a growing product on a “I’ve worked for Rogers for 35 “glaring opportunity” for Gris- see an immediate need to add capacity, global scale, which can fit into a market years, and for all the years I’ve Sherman wold, and while the company has but there’s always tweaks to equipment and application space where no other worked for Rogers, we’ve wanted done well getting applications in to make new products that will help solve Rogers products currently fit. to buy Griswold,” he said. “They have al- a segment of the North American automo- customers’ problems,” Sherman said. “I “It’s kind of an open playing field for ways been very savvy. They’ve been kind tive market, Rogers has more experience don’t see an immediate need to put a us,” he said. of a plucky competitor in some areas. … on a larger stage, Sherman said. Griswold plant in Europe or a global expansion of One benefit of having Griswold’s facili- Griswold had just done a surprising good has the market potential to solve problems production. … We’re using our channels ty near to Rogers’ center for research and job and now it’s a pleasure to walk in and for automotive manufacturers in Europe to market, which are very strong indus- development location has been increased not have to change a whole lot. Things are and Asia as its focus in the short term. trially globally, to drive sales.” interaction between those teams, Sher- already going well. We can just add to it.” Looking at automotive or similar markets man said. The proximity means Griswold isn’t what Sherman would call a shift in New developments can take advantage of R&D resources Global scale focus as much as adding to Griswold’s Going forward, Sherman hopes to see a more easily, as well as the nearby techni- One of the things that Rogers can bring range. continual flow of new products coming cians. It also allows Rogers’ R&D team to to Griswold is the addition of a more global “We’re well set up to continue to focus from Griswold as it develops its connec- quickly visit the production site to see reach to its markets, one of Sherman’s on our relationships and growing the tion with Rogers, he said. While Griswold how plans can be realized and develop- new responsibilities, he said. Rogers oper- part of the business that Griswold did isn’t likely to bring a whole new chemis- ment processes can be integrated. ates facilities in North America, Asia and very well at, and add in more industrial try to Rogers, chances are better that “I think that’s one of the things that Europe, while Griswold operates out of its kinds of applications,” he said. they’ll find new ways to apply a current has gone really well with the integration,” facility in Moosup, serving primarily the Rogers is looking for growth from chemistry. Those benefits go both ways, Sherman said. “That’s why I’m particu- North American market. Griswold, starting a planning process as Griswold brings the beginnings of larly upbeat about our future in develop- “We hope to be able to replicate the now to map out the next five years, Sher- some development work in chemistries ing products for future customer needs.”

OBITUARY Warco chairman dies at 71 ORANGE, Calif.—Warco Biltrite time employee in May 1971. Chairman Steven Ray Hemstreet, From 1971-77, Hemstreet performed who spent more than 48 years with 18 different functions within the fac- the company, has died. He was 71. tory and laboratory, according to The cause of death was not Warco. He was promoted to disclosed. vice president in 1977 and “Mr. Hemstreet’s passion was named president in for our company and for its 1983. He acquired an option people was unceasing,” War- to purchase the company in co said in a statement, not- 1986 and, in 1992, exercised ing that his passion for the it along with his two part- company grew throughout ners—H. Conrad Blackerby his career. and Benjamin Harrison. “Mr. Hemstreet,” the com- They sold a majority in- pany said, “was the guiding terest in Warco to a private force of Warco Biltrite, in- investment firm that oper- spiring all that met and Hemstreet ated the company from June worked with him with his 1998 until November 2001, calm, genuine empathy.” when Hemstreet and his brother Hemstreet began his career at re-acquired the firm. Warco in 1971, taking the job as a Warco said it progressively ex- machine operator at the urging of his panded under Hemstreet’s leader- mother, who spent 25 years with the ship. This included the acquisition of company in its extrusion department. Biltrite Ripley’s rubber sheeting and Griswold’s product line has applications such as yoga mats, mouse pads and foot- Initially, he intended to join the com- matting business in 2006 from Stan- wear. With Rogers’ resources, it is broadening its reach to more industrial appli- pany part time, but he became a full- ley Bernstein and Steve Fine. cations in global markets. www.rubbernews.com Rubber & Plastics News • July 29, 2019 5

Schaumburg, Ill. Elkem builds on health care offerings By Kyle Brown graphically by adding two new research momentum continues to grow, he said. Rubber & Plastics News Staff and development support positions on the Company-wide, Elkem has brought on Elkem Silicones USA Corp. is on a “full West Coast, Goglia said. The move pro- 11 more employees this year with plans court press” into the long-term implant vides additional assistance for health care to hire about 14 more. Among those are side of the health care market, said Mike customers in western locations. three new sales people to support differ- Goglia, health care market manager. “We see our customer base is in that ent regions in the West Coast and Mid- That growth means additional products area and needed some additional local west. The company’s North America sil- and an expanded support staff, Goglia said support,” he said. “We have resources that icones manufacturing and R&D facility in an interview at the recent Healthcare are in place in the West Coast time zones in York, S.C., which was built in 2012, Elastomer Conference in Schaumburg, Ill. now and not just supporting it out of South employs about 140. The location includes “We have a full product portfolio for Carolina.” a Class 7 and a Class 8 clean room. RPN photo by Kyle Brown that marketplace, for long term. That’s The new hires are located in northern “We’ve seen a lot of growth, and it Mike Goglia (left) and Tom Gennety staff LSR, adhesives, RTVs and HCR,” he California, with the possibility for more doesn’t seem to be slowing down at all,” the Elkem Silicones booth at the Health- said. “We initially started with just LSR, in the future as the health care market Goglia said. care Elastomer Conference. and we continue to expand into that marketplace.” Elkem is starting out with services and sales support for the market segment, as well as helping customers getting products off the ground, Goglia said. The World’s No. 1 Trade Fair “We know it’s 5-7 years before some- for Plastics and Rubber thing goes commercial generally, but we’ve got a lot of irons in the fire,” Goglia said. “We’ve always had lofty expansion plans, and they continue.” One step in that expansion is the new Silbione Med ADH 4200, a one-part, tin- free adhesive. Using tin as a catalyst isn’t biocompatible in many applications, Gog- lia said. The new adhesive uses an undis- closed non-tin catalyst that gives the product a wider flexibility in the marketplace. “We’ve seen in comparisons to the benchmarks that are out there that the adhesion is better,” he said. “We’ve seen some really good adhesion to various sub- strates, whether that be metal or plastic, and at a faster cure speed, which can increase throughput for our end customers.” The new adhesive cures about 50 percent faster in most cases without heat or humidity, Goglia said, where many one- part adhesives require both in a moisture cure. The new adhesive doesn’t require a moisture chamber to cure. While Med ADH 4200 is made for long- e-mobility – more power term implant applications, Elkem also will launch a non-long-term implant version of the same product, he said. That version is to the lightweights the same product, but each batch does not have to be tested for biocompatibility for greater than 30 day implants. Within the LTI market, drug delivery has been a large market, including applications such as working with steroid delivery, chemotherapy treatment or a pacemaker, Goglia said. While Elkem has its base polymers to work with, the company has been developing custom polymers for customers. Some drugs used in the health care marketplace in- teract negatively with the platinum system, and the company has adjusted its cure kinetics to get an effective result. “That’s been a custom approach based Maximizing power-weight ratios is a top priority in e-mobility on customer-by-customer, because all of them are different. All of them require and driverless vehicles. Lightweight construction is both key to properties that are different, too,” he said. Another part of its health care offer- electrifying the industry and a huge challenge as well. Around ing is its LSR Select process, which Elkem debuted at the Medical Design & 3,200 international exhibitors at K 2019 will be introducing Manufacturing West show in Anaheim, you to the latest developments and groundbreaking innovations Calif. It alters how two-part systems are mixed, which can provide a better cure on all the trending topics in the plastics and rubber industry. speed, Goglia said. “If you can get a 10 percent improve- Be a part of it. ment on productivity for a molder, that’s a big deal,” he said. www.k-online.com/ticketing Elkem also launched a new medical grade high consistency rubber line, the Silbione HCRA 4500 series. The two-component platinum cure product is higher performing with lower extract- ables, he said. It is available in durome- ter range of 20-80 Shore A. Elkem also has expanded its reach geo- For show information: Messe Düsseldorf North America Tel. (312) 781-5180 _ [email protected] www.mdna.com For hotel and travel arrangements: TTI Travel, Inc. Tel. (866) 674-3476 _ [email protected] 6 Rubber & Plastics News • July 29, 2019 www.rubbernews.com AI set to transform tire industry By Miles Moore Rubber & Plastics News Staff TORONTO—Artificial intelligence is coming quickly to both tire manufacturing and tire technology, and they are transforming the basic concepts of the tire industry, according to speakers June 12 at “Driving to the Future,” the 2019 Tire & Rubber Summit in Toronto. Hosted by the Tire and Rubber Asso- ciation of Canada, the summit presented speakers who described major changes in materials, regulations, manufacturing and design that affect the tire industry in fundamental ways. The term “artificial intelligence” was first used in 1955, according to Khaled Boqaileh, co-founder and CEO of AI consulting firm LabsCubed. AI, Boqaileh said, is the use of algo- rithms to predict outcomes, and you can Khaled Boqaileh, co-founder and CEO of LabsCubed. Don Heelis, sales manager, Cimcorp Automation Ltd. easily replace the term “AI” with “prediction.” • Reduced power consumption; The cost of prediction has fallen dra- • Intelligent power saving components; matically, from $250,000 per calculation and two years ago to $12.75 today, according • Effective management and control to Boqaileh. of all production parameters. Manufacturing, he said, is quickly Creating intelligent tires for the fu- achieving the status of “Industry 4.0,” in ture is not a one-size-fits all proposition, which automated systems are combined according to Mike Nehls, general man- with AI to create a smart factory. ager of the Tire & Wheel Test Center at “Industry 4.0 will improve all sectors,” Smithers Rapra. Boqaileh said. “AI will predict what you “Electric vehicles and autonomous ve- need.” hicles are different entities, with differ- The key to running a smart factory ent sets of rules,” Nehls said. effectively, according to Boqaileh, is clean Smithers conducts third-party, in- data, which he de- dependent testing for scribed as “data that “AV tire development every tire manufac- is organized, accu- will not detract from EV turer on every type of rate, traceable and in development, especially tire, according to Ne- the same format.” hls. In its testing, Anthony Reyes, director of partner- An automated lab Smithers has found for AV/EV vehicles, and ships and innovation with Michelin. is crucial to running AV technology will be that EVs create new clean data, he said. performance expec- keep pace with innovation in transporta- Automation increases applicable to all engine tations, but AVs add tion, mobile technology, and customer ex- data consistency by up power types.” expectations beyond pectations. Tire intelligence is needed now.” to 10 times, ensures Mike Nehls that, he said. Jay Spears, director of standards and consistency across “AV tire develop- regulations for Continental Tire the plants, speeds up testing for each sample ment will not detract from EV develop- Americas L.L.C., described what Conti and allows the work force to complete ment, especially for AV/EV vehicles, and is doing to meet the challenges of intelli- higher-value jobs, he said. AV technology will be applicable to all en- gent tire design. gine power types,” he said. Conti has developed two technologies, Cimcorp Automation Ltd. has success- Jay Spears, director of standards and reg- The “cool factor” of EVs has caused an according to Spears: ContiSense, which fully brought Industry 4.0 to tire plants, ulations, Continental Tire the Americas. according to Cimcorp Sales Manager exponential increase in the sale of luxu- measures tire status, including tread Don Heelis. ry EVs, according to Nehls. “Tesla’s depth and the presence of punctures, Cimcorp has built and equipped high- boom in sales is the primary factor in through the electrification of tire rub- tech plants in 40 countries on six conti- the EV sales jump,” he said. ber; and ContiAdapt, which actively nents, Heelis said. Among them are fa- Urbanization and aggressive regula- adapts the tire footprint to the detected cilities for tire manufacturers including tion of air pollutants also are driving the road condition or the driver’s preference. Goodyear, Bridgestone, Continental, popularity of EVs, which should further Conti’s concept tire, according to Michelin, Giti, Yokohama and Linglong. increase as battery range improves and Spears, offers an optimized tread pat- “We’ve branded our tire factory as a the number of charging stations increas- tern design that enables the benefits of dream factory,” Heelis said. “All raw es, Nehls said. these advanced technologies. materials are tracked through the facto- However, EVs present new challenges Meanwhile, Michelin is also intensely ry. We know where the material is in the for tire design, according to Nehls. Tires involved in tire AI, according to Anthony factory and which equipment is handling for EVs must handle higher and differ- Reyes, Michelin director of partnerships it. If problems occur, we have the trace- ently distributed vehicle weight com- and innovation. ability to pinpoint them.” pared with gasoline-powered vehicles, Quoting figures from the National The Industry 4.0 tire plant, according he said. They must also handle higher Highway Traffic Safety Administration, to Heelis, consists of two webs: A physi- torque, reduce cabin noise and provide Reyes said 94 percent of all road acci- cal network, featuring interconnected lower rolling resistance. dents are caused by driver error. More automation and process equipment, and AVs are governed by a different set of than 37,000 people were killed in crash- a cyber network that offers electronic parameters, according to Nehls. Their es last year, at a cost of $242 billion to Mike Nehls, general manager, Tire & integration and flow of information. development is driven by the need to re- the U.S. economy—overriding reasons Wheel Test Center, Smithers Rapra. The Cimcorp “dream factory” offers duce accidents and traffic congestion. to promote the safety benefits of AVs. any number of physical and production The automation of trucking and buses is AV manufacturer Waymo introduced one of which was caused by Waymo, and advantages over traditional tire facili- also a significant factor, he said. a fully autonomous car last December in that was a fender-bender.” ties, Heelis said. These include: Intelligent tires connected in real time Arizona, Reyes said, adding that he Reyes spoke of “Moore’s Law,” which • Reduced floor space; are a must for AVs, Nehls said. So are ex- thinks fully autonomous vehicles could states that the processing power of inte- • Fewer components; cellent traction for self-braking vehicles; be on U.S. roads by 2025. grated circuits doubles every two years. • Modular structures allowing scal- ride comfort to make up for additional vi- AVs, he said, will be especially useful The current status of AV development, ability of capacity; bration; run-flat capabilities; and reduced for buses and shuttles serving assisted he said, attests to Moore’s Law. • Design flexibility to allow production emphasis on speed capabilities to achieve living facilities. “The processors on a current AV are changes; the desired vehicle dynamics, he said. “Waymo has 10 million miles of auton- 32,000 times more powerful than the • Maximum overall equipment effec- “Intelligent tire innovation shouldn’t omous driving already,” he said. “In that system that sent Apollo 11 to the moon,” tiveness (OEE); wait for AVs,” Nehls said. “Tires need to time, there have been 35 accidents, only he said. www.rubbernews.com Rubber & Plastics News • July 29, 2019 7 Strong customer base drives UHP tire sales By Miles Moore Rubber & Plastics News Staff The North American market for ultra- high-performance tires may be changing, but demand remains strong, according to representatives of tire companies with a strong UHP presence. Demand patterns for UHP tires are fluctuating, according to Andrew Briggs, vice president of marketing and product 25 21.3% management for Yo- 20.0% 19.7% 18.7% 19.5% 20.3% kohama Tire Corp. 20 17.3% 16.3% 14.6% 20.6% 21.3% “UHP as a cate- 18.4% 19.5% gory has actually 15 16.5% 14.5% 15.0% grown—even as the 10 13.9% 24% vehicle trends con- 36% 12.6% tinue to move to- 43% 2018 5 2018 wards CUVs—but Data Data 0 % 13% this has actually ’10 ’11 ’12 ’13 ’14 ’15 ’16 ’17 ’18 54 come at the expense % 9% of more broad-line 8% 13 Original Equipment* Replacement* passenger car prod- Briggs ucts, which have Original Equipment Speed Ratings Replacement allowed both UHP and LTR to grow,” Briggs said. HVZ Other With the increase in OE speed-rating Source: U.S. Tire Manufacturers Association; Tire Business research. 2018 market shares demands, all-season UHPs are driving growth in that market, according to Briggs. form at low levels “While the performance Briggs touted Yokohama’s all-season UHP tires are the backbone of Pirelli for a low price. Ulti- UHP tire, the Advan Sport A/S, which Tire L.L.C.’s product and commercial mately consumers vehicle market might be was introduced in late 2014 and will be strategy, the Italian tire maker said. who want the look shrinking in terms of vehicle upgraded to the Advan Sport A/S+ in “We concentrate most of our effort and and a Z-rating can launches, we continue to see September. get our growth from that segment,” be tempted to buy Kenda’s all-season UHP tire, the Vezda Pirelli said. “According to our estimates these products.” the volume difference offset KR400, offers “excellent” traction, low noise it continues to grow, albeit at a slower Not all tire mak- by an increase in performance levels and “exceptional” wet/all-season pace than last year.” ers, however, agreed traction and braking, Stotsenburg said. Figures taken from the U.S. Tire that the performance CUVs and SUVs.” The Vezda KR400’s traction, he said, Manufacturers Association and the U.S. vehicle market is Michelin “indicates a product which mirrors up- Department of Commerce show strong shrinking. Bridge- Stotsenburg “While the sports car segment has per-tier summer performance,” he said. growth for HP tires in both original stone Americas said declined in recent years, some vehicles Michelin is developing UHP tires in equipment and replacement markets. it still has a loyal customer base of per- that were traditionally considered a larger sizes to satisfy the shift from H-rated tires, approved for speeds of formance vehicle enthusiasts who want non-performance vehicle now have performance cars to performance CUVs, up to 130 mph, nearly tripled in OE de- the best in UHP tires. horsepower outputs that you can argue according to the company. mand between 2010 and 2017 to 16 mil- “We think the enthusiast market is is a performance vehicle,” Arima said. “Last year we launched several new lion units from 5.9 million. still strong,” said Daniel Kelly, product A Toyota Camry, for example, can be CUV sizes in the Pilot Sport A/S 3+, and Demand for V-rated tires, approved planner, passenger vehicle segment, offered with an engine rated at more we just launched the Pilot Sport 4 SUV for speeds of up to 149 mph, also showed U.S. and Canada, for than 300 horsepower, he said. line specifically for high-performance strong OE growth between 2010 and Bridgestone Ameri- “Overall, sales of new vehicles are CUVs and SUVs,” Michelin said. 2017, increasing more than 5 percent a cas Tire Operations. shifting toward light trucks, SUVs and Pirelli said it has developed the Scor- year to 6.2 million units from 4.5 mil- “That market is CUVs, and we expect the OEMs to ex- pion Zero AS for car makers and the lion. Z-rated tires, approved at 149 mph not really going any- pand their offerings to sportier models, Scorpion Zero AS+ as replacement tires and above, were shipped in more modest where, at least for which will help drive UHP tire sales in for SUVs. numbers but still grew impressively at the foreseeable fu- these segments,” Arima said. “We see growth in UHP SUV and nearly 17.5 percent a year to 3 million ture. We’re still in an Indian tire maker Apollo Tyres Ltd. CUV tries as an upward trend, as vehi- units from 900,000. awesome era of per- said it is finding a higher growth rate in cle manufacturers are responding to High-performance growth also was formance vehicles.” UHP tires for light trucks, SUVs and consumer interest and increasing their brisk in the replacement market be- There is a grow- especially CUVs. offerings in performance-oriented CUVs tween 2010 and 2017. H-rated replace- ing trend in perfor- “Also, we see the LT and SUV seg- and SUVs,” the company said. ment tire shipments increased from 30.5 mance SUVs, such Kelly ments as a big growth opportunity for Bridgestone mentioned its Potenza million to 48.8 million in those years; as the BMW X5M; the company, and product development RE-71R as a tire of choice for car club V-rated, from 13.1 million to 25.8 mil- performance CUVs, such as the Porsche is under way in these segments,” said racing enthusiasts, such as those affiliat- lion; and Z-rated, from 12.1 million to Macan; and even performance off-road Yograj Varma of Apollo’s corporate com- ed with the Sports Car Club of America. 17.4 million. vehicles, such as the Jeep Cherokee Trail- munications. Nevertheless, the UHP tire retains Michelin North America Inc. said it is hawk, Kelly said. Apollo recently developed an all-weath- the same performance qualities in what- seeing a trend toward larger vehicles in “But SUVs and CUVs are still a smaller tire, the Quatrac Pro, designed specif- ever market it serves. the UHP segment. er portion of the UHP market,” he said. ically for the UHP segment. “By definition, performance is still the “While the performance vehicle mar- With recent changes in the vehicle “Unlike all-season tires, all-weather priority, including wet and dry grip,” ket might be shrinking in terms of vehicle market, performance vehicles are more tires stay soft and give grip at tempera- Briggs said. launches, we continue to see the volume or less in the eye of the beholder, accord- tures above and below 7 degrees Celsius, “The higher up in the category one difference offset by an increase in perfor- ing to Kevin Arima, senior product so they’ve become a popular year-round goes, the more important some of the mance CUVs and SUVs,” Michelin said. manager, product planning and techni- tire in cities like Boston, Chicago, To- more refined performance attributes, “The performance vehicle market is cal services, for Toyo Tire U.S.A. Corp. ronto and Vancouver,” Varma said. such as noise and comfort, become.” following the overall market in the shift away from cars and toward CUVs and SUVs, even in the high-performance segment,” the tire maker said. International Elastomer Conference While the UHP market has shown relative growth in the last five to 10 Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland • Cleveland, OH years, growth in UHP passenger tires has slowed, according to Brandon Stot- Featuring the Expo, 196th Technical Meeting, Educational Symposium senburg, vice president of automotive for and so much more! Kenda Tire U.S.A. Inc. The International Elastomer Conference is the premier place where educators, “However, specific niches for cars continue to thrive,” Stotsenburg said. “Some customers, manufacturers and suppliers of materials, equipment, tools and services CUV platforms now demand V- or come together. This event is the one place, one time of year, where you ﬁ nd the best W-rated products, which are trending of the best of our industry all under one roof. It provides a forum for the exchange of toward UHP. ideas, observations, regulatory reforms and emerging scientiﬁ c technologies, as well “The drivers that Kenda has seen re- October 8-10, 2019 as learning, networking seeing current customers and developing new ones. late to consumer expectations within the segment,” he said. “There are a lot of low-priced, W-rated products which per- Interested in exhibiting or attending? Visit rubberiec.org for details. 8 Rubber & Plastics News • July 29, 2019 www.rubbernews.com Opinion

NR supply chain Vol. 48 No. 26 Brennan Lafferty, V.P./group publisher

EDITORIAL STAFF Bruce Meyer, Editor transparency (330-865-6124) Chris Sweeney, News editor (330-865-6188) Miles D. Moore, Senior Washington reporter (703-256-9275) a just endeavor Erin Pustay Beaven, Online content editor (330-865-6106) he natural rubber supply chain truly runs the gamut Kyle Brown, Reporter of the world’s socio-economic spectrum. At the bottom (330-865-6115) are the smallholders that tap Hevea trees on relative- Michael McCrady, Art director T (330-865-6148) ly small parcels of land, trying to bring in enough income John Dick, Technical editor to support a family. About 80 percent of the global supply BMW; producers, processors and traders; civil society orga- ([email protected]) of NR—near 14 million metric tons in 2018—comes from nizations; and affiliated entities. Don Loepp, Editorial director ([email protected]) these farmers. BMW said while it doesn’t directly buy natural rubber, it At the opposite end of the supply chain are mammoth cor- consumes 24,000 tons of rubber a year just for tires. INTERNET Mark McCarron, Digital coordinator porations, including the tire manufacturers that buy 85 per- As part of its Sustainable Natural Rubber Policy, Pire- (330-865-6123) cent of the NR. In between are the rubber traders, govern- lli recently launched a website called “Being Fast Takes ment entities and other organizations that make sure the Time,” devoted to building public awareness of natural SALES STAFF Brent Weaver, Sales manager rubber somehow makes it from the producer to the buyer. rubber. Based on the reportage and images of Italian writ- (330-865-6119) And how that supply chain works has been a bit of a mys- er and photographer Alessandro Scotti, “Being Fast Takes Peter McNeil, Display advertising sales repre- tery, but there have been activities to try to make for a more Time” covers the fundamental phases of the NR production sentative (330-865-6109) Brooke Stender, Classified advertising sales transparent and sustainable process for all going forward. and supply cycle, describing the lives of rubber smallhold- representative (330-865-6117) One of those activities is the Global Platform for Sustainable ers and their cultivation and processing techniques. Lori DiFrancesco, Sales and conference coordi- Natural Rubber, which held its inaugural general assembly And Continental started a joint project with a firm that nator (330-865-6121) earlier this year. Its stated purpose is to be an independent Sarah Arnold, Marketing and events manager has experience in farming and giving support to other ag- (330-865-6169) platform designed to improve the socio-economic and environ- ricultural sectors. The tire maker looks to build a docu- Patrick Cannon, Group sales director mental performance of the natural rubber value chain. mented path for the NR from the farmer to its tire plant. (313-446-1625)

Stakeholder organizations in the group include the tire These are small steps to start, but much needed to shed light RUBBER DIRECTORY & BUYERS GUIDE makers; auto makers including Ford, General Motors and on a value chain that has operated chiefly in the dark until now. Sally Dietz, Assistant events manager/editorial coordinator (330-865-6112)

VIEWPOINT IT/PRODUCTION STAFF Scott Merryweather, Media services manager Anthony DiPonio, Chief information officer

AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT Exciting events just around the corner Jennifer Mosley, Group director/Audience development (312-649-5312)

By Bruce Meyer conferences. Our International Latex Conference is set for EXECUTIVE OFFICES Aug. 6-7 at the Hilton Akron/Fairlawn in Fairlawn, Ohio, 2291 Riverfront Pkwy, Suite 1000, Cuyahoga t’s no secret that the mission of Rubber & Plastics News has while our ITEC in Focus session on Green Tires will be Falls, Ohio 44221. Phone: 330-836-9180; Edito- evolved in recent years, as the world of publishing changes. rial fax, 330-836-2831; Sales, administration fax: held Sept. 25-26 at the Sheraton Suites Hotel in Cuyahoga 330-836-1005 So instead of just publishing a print edition every two weeks Falls, just walking distance from RPN’s new office. I Diana Clance, Office coordinator for you to wait and get in your mail to catch up on the news of The International Latex Conference was the first niche con- (330-836-9180) the industry, our offerings are now much more diverse. ference staged by our publication, and it dates back to the mid- They include a variety of digital products that deliver news in 1990s, following the success of our International Tire Exhibi- a more timely and focused manner to a range tion & Conference, a full-fledged exhibition and conference. of conferences and exhibits, focusing on dif- Jim Finn, president of Akron Dispersions, has served as con- ferent niches within the rubber industry. The ference chairman since the beginning, and he always succeeds Rubber & Plastics News is published bi-weekly reason I’m bringing this up now is the team at in putting together a first-rate program, and this year’s agenda by Crain Communications Inc. RPN over the next few weeks will be busy on is no different. It includes a mix of market-driven papers with Subscriptions: U.S., one year $99; two years, $178. Group rates, $79 each for five or more all those fronts, with two conferences coming a wide range of technical offerings, with a number of familiar copies. Air mail and first class delivery to U.S., up and a brand new digital offering: our first names on the program along with some new faces as well. U.S. possessions, Mexico and Canada, $164; the ever Live-Stream webcast. And Finn always likes to add a bit of fun to the event, Middle East and Europe, $219; all other regions, $293. For surface delivery to Canada, $138 Now we’re excited—but also a bit ner- complete with a Latex Jeopardy Game and Akron Disper- (including GST); Mexico and all other foreign vous—about the Live-Stream event, which sions’ Casino Night, long a popular part of the networking. countries, $140. Single copy, $4.50. Rubber Directory & Buyers Guide, $89 per copy will happen on Aug. 15 at 2 p.m. and can To register, visit www.rubbernews.com/LatexEvent. plus $6 for first class postage and handling in the be accessed from our website at www.rub- For the ITEC in Focus Conference, Walter Waddell and U.S. and Canada. Four weeks’ notice required for bernews.com. During the Live-Stream, RPN reporter Kyle change of address. GST #136760444. Larry Evans once again are handling the conference co- Printed in the U.S. Brown and I will discuss the major issues facing the silicone chair duties. The two-day event will include four plenary For new subscriptions and change of address, rubber market, which has been particularly active the past talks, covering alternative and sustainable natural rub- write: Audience Development Department, Rubber & Plastics News, 1155 Gratiot Ave., Detroit, couple of years. We will focus on such issues within the sec- bers and alternatives, new design of tire materials, new Mich. 48207-2912; call 1-877-320- 1726 or e-mail tor as market conditions (including pricing), capacity issues, approaches of NR/silica compatibility and the effect of tire [email protected] for customer the Asian market, trade issues and future prospects. service. For subscription information and delivery inflation pressure on electric vehicle performance. concerns please email customerservicerpn@ The Live-Stream is free but you do have register at www. To register, visit www.rubbernews.com/InFocus. crain.com or call 877-320-1726 (in the U.S. and rubbernews.com/live/silicone. Canada) or 313-446-0450 (all other locations) Reprints: Lauren Melesio, 212-210-0707; In August and September, our events and sales teams Meyer is editor of Rubber & Plastics News. He can be reached e-mail, [email protected]. also are busy putting the final touches on two of our niche at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @bmeyerRPN. Website: http://www.rubbernews.com

CRAIN COMMUNICATIONS INC

ONLINE QUOTE OF THE WEEK Keith E. Crain Mary Kay Crain Chairman Vice chairman “Leaf fall disease can have KC Crain Chris Crain Check out our redesigned website at rubbernews.com President Senior executive far-reaching effects as a result of vice president WACKY WORLD OF RUBBER: Justin Verlander said Major League Baseball Lexie Crain has juiced its baseballs, Chris Sweeney explores how rubber would play a role if true. international trade, as they may be Armstrong Robert Recchia Secretary Chief financial officer PHOTO GALLERY: Michelin will outfit the 2020 Chevy Corvette Stingray with spread undetected from one area G.D. Crain Jr. Gertrude R. Crain all-season tires. It will be the first Corvette to come with all-season tires as OE. to another.” Founder (1885-1973) Chairman (1911-1996) Other online content: —Kavickumar s/o Muruganathan, a Halcyon Agri STORIES • VIDEOS • PHOTOS • NEWS • BLOGS • NEWSLETTERS Corp. Ltd. vice president, on the dangers of leaf fall. www.rubbernews.com Rubber & Plastics News • July 29, 2019 9 From The Web Tiarco finalizes deal for H.B. Fuller business unit Eaton to buy TransDigm interconnect unit DALTON, Ga.—Tiarco has completed its purchase of H.B. Fuller’s surfactants, By Scott Suttell energy and transport markets that we serve today.” thickeners and dispersants business for Crain’s Cleveland Business The transaction was disclosed on July 22 and is expected $71 million. CLEVELAND—Power management giant Eaton Corp. to close by the end of 2019, subject to various regulatory Based in Dalton, the business produc- has agreed to buy the Souriau-Sunbank Connection Tech- approvals and closing conditions. Eaton—which is based in es thickeners used in carpet, floor coat- nologies business of Cleveland-based TransDigm Group Inc. Dublin, Ireland, but has its North American headquarters ings, adhesive and caulk formulations, for $920 million. in Beachwood, Ohio—said the acquisition would as well as surfactants used in deter- Souriau-Sunbank, headquartered in Ver- be “accretive to adjusted earnings per share in gents, wetting agents and foam boosters sailles, France, and founded more than a centu- 2020.” Eaton has sales of $21.6 billion in 2018. in beauty and health care products. ry ago, makes electrical interconnect products The deal is a case of one Northeast Ohio cor- Tiarco, a subsidiary of Dalton-based for harsh environments for customers in the porate giant taking on a business that wasn’t a Textile Rubber & Chemical Co. Inc., said aerospace, defense, industrial, energy and fit for another Northeast Ohio behemoth. it looks forward to working with H.B. transport industries. It has about 3,200 workers TransDigm acquired Souriau-Sunbank in Fuller on a smooth transition. The firm and manufacturing operations in France, the March 2019 as part of its $4 billion purchase of is a specialty chemical manufacturer Dominican Republic, India, Morocco, Mexico Esterline Technologies Corp. that serves the latex, grease and lubri- and the U.S. “As previously communicated, we have been cant, water treatment, and oil and gas For the 12-month period ending June 30, considering divesting some Esterline portfolio industries. Souriau-Sunbank’s sales were $363 million, businesses that do not align well with Trans- Eaton said in a news release. Digm’s strategy,” TransDigm Executive Chair- Huntington expands “Souriau-Sunbank is a great fit with our man W. Nicholas Howley said in a statement. operations with acquisition current aerospace portfolio,” Craig Arnold, Ea- “As such, we are pleased to have an agreement ton’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement. for the divestiture of Souriau-Sunbank to Ea- GREER, S.C.—Foam packaging mak- “Souriau-Sunbank’s extensive connectors capa- Arnold ton. This is a high-quality, well-established er Huntington Solutions is expanding to bilities will accelerate our participation in the connector business. We are confident that its a seventh location, this time in Texas. growing market for electrical content on aircraft, and also customers will continue to be well-served as we work toward The Greer-based company has ac- give us a strong portfolio of connectors for the industrial, a successful completion of the transaction.” quired Texas Foam of Bastrop, a move that will expand Huntington’s manufacturing of temperature-sensitive packag- life on Earth, the release said. its costs for natural rubber smallholders. adaptable to the smallholders. ing, the company said. “Goodyear quite literally has gone to To be held Oct. 7 in Yogyakarta, Indo- The conference in October, themed The deal comes as more products are the moon and back to take tire perfor- nesia, the event will investigate the “Adaptive and Inclusive Path to Sus- sold through electronic commerce and mance to new levels for customers,” limitations of the sector in adopting the tainable Value Chain,” will attempt to shipped directly to homes. Chief Technology Officer Chris Helsel sustainability norms mainly initiated identify the standards and norms that Huntington makes custom shape-mold- said in a statement. by the tire industry, according to a July are suitable for the smallholders and ed and fabricated foam. 16 statement. acceptable to other segments of the in- The new location joins existing sites Replacement tire demand The additional costs to adopt the pre- dustry’s value chain. in South Carolina, Michigan, Ohio, Vir- varies in Europe scribed practices and maintain stan- ginia and Mexico, where there are two dards, and “the abnormally On the move operations. BRUSSELS—Replace- high” fee for the certification, Huntington Solutions, formerly known To keep up with the ment tire demand throughout daily pulse of the make it difficult for small- Americas International Inc.—Selected as Huntington Foam, has grown through Europe was a mixed bag for holders “to be on board” the Deborah Schneir, who brings more a series of acquisitions since its own pur- industry, visit www. the first six months of 2019, rubbernews.com. sustainability drive, the as- than 20 years of rubber industry experi- chase by private equity firm Mill Point with passenger tires ship- sociation said. ence, as its national sales manager. Capital in 2016. ments down 3.7 percent and Stating that around 90 Motion Industries Inc.—Named Jere- At that time, the new investors sig- truck/bus tire shipments up 5.4 percent. percent of the world’s NR supply is pro- my Barton vice president of its West naled plans to expand the foam packag- Replacement passenger tire ship- duced by smallholders, the ANRPC Group and will lead its operations. ing company. ments slid to 101 million units, accord- stressed the importance of including United Steelworkers—Appointed Kevin The latest addition makes expanded ing to the European Tyre & Rubber smallholders in the sustainable develop- Johnsen to lead the union’s rubber/plastic polystyrene packaging for the medical, Manufacturers’ Association, while re- ment of the value chain. The inclusive- industry council, replacing Stan John- instrumentation, pharmaceutical, and placement truck tire shipments grew to ness can be possible only if the prescribed son, who retired as the union’s interna- food and beverage sectors. The company 5.16 million units, helped by 10 percent standards and certification system are tional secretary-treasurer on July 15. markets extended-duration shippers growth in the first quarter. under the XDS brand. Demand for agricultural tires declined in the second quarter after a Goodyear taking tire slight increase in the first three months of the year, resulting in a 4.4 percent research to outer space drop in shipments for the first half of the AKRON—Goodyear is ready to look year to 682,000 units. to the heavens as it sends some of its tire Shipments of motorcycle tires regis- components into space for testing. tered an increase for the second quarter, The Akron-based tire maker is part of helping to drive up shipments by 3.2 a project this month that takes flight to percent for the first half of 2019 to 6.15 the International Space Station’s U.S. million units. Global distributor for Natural & Synthetic Rubber and Latex. National Laboratory, the company said “The tire market provides a good pic- Pre-Vulcanized and High Solid Latex Grades, and Vytex™ in a news release. The SpaceX CRS-18 ture of the general economic situation,” was scheduled to launch on July 21 and ETRMA Secretary General Fazilet Ci- head to the ISS with a Goodyear experi- naralp said. ment onboard. Goodyear announced the The dip in replacement sales of passen- • Global presence project last year. ger car tires, she said, mirrors new car • Just-In-Time deliveries from strategically located Bulk Goodyear plans to study the formation registrations in the European Union, of silica particles, a material used in which also declined in this first semester. Tank-Installations, Warehouses and Hot Rooms consumer tires, in the microgravity en- The European Automobile Manufac- • In-house Technical Support and 3rd party certified vironment of the space station, the com- turers Association reported earlier that testing facilities pany said. Goodyear engineers will use first-half new-car registrations fell 3.1 the results to “determine if unique forms percent to 8.2 million. • Exclusive rights to market Corrie-MacColl’s Cameroon of precipitated silica might be considered ETRMA’s data covers markets in 35 Latex production and select SIR rubber in tires to enhance performance,” the European countries, stretching from firm said. Ireland in the West to Poland, Slovakia, • Quality customer service Astronauts aboard the ISS will con- Hungary, Romania and the Baltics in duct Goodyear’s experiment while com- the East. pany scientists simultaneously carry out Contact our Sales Professionals @ (800) 520-7669 the same experiment in the company’s Sustainability to be key Centrotrade Rubber Inc. labs, allowing for comparison. focus at ANRPC meeting Goodyear’s in-space testing is made 676 Independence Parkway, Suite 110, Chesapeake, VA 23320 possible through an agreement with the KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—The Email – [email protected] ISS U.S. National Laboratory, which upcoming annual meeting of the Associa- works with NASA to use the lab to de- tion of Natural Rubber Producing Coun- www.corrie-maccoll.com/centrotrade velop innovations capable of improving tries is set to discuss sustainability and 10 Rubber & Plastics News • July 29, 2019 www.rubbernews.com SPECIAL REPORT Latex Natural rubber prices remain cyclical By Bruce Meyer from 2004-08 the Thai government in- Rubber & Plastics News Staff troduced a tax subsidy to boost planting SEATTLE—The world of natural rub- in northeast Thailand, which skewed ber doesn’t always fall into neat categories. plantings higher than expected. NR prices are cyclical but, for a num- Planting also increases for a couple of ber of reasons, pricing and demand don’t years after prices peak, Gyftopoulou necessarily match up in traditional said. “The reason is you need some time terms, according to Maria Gyftopoulou, to put your plantation together,” she said. a senior research consultant at LMC “It’s not something that can happen so Tyre & Rubber Ltd., a unit of LMC In- quickly. You have to collect the seedlings, ternational consultancy based in the prepare and plant. That’s a process that United Kingdom. takes some time.” Gyftopoulou presented an outlook on NR prices in real terms have fallen by the natural rubber industry during the Maria Gyftopoulou delivers a an average of 2 percent a year starting in recent International Institute of Syn- presentation to attendees of the 1950s, she said. To put the 2011 re- thetic Rubber Producers Annual Gener- the IISRP’s annual meeting. cord high prices in perspective, it was the al Meeting in Seattle. highest prices for NR for a generation. She explained that prices are cyclical Some countries adapt NR production to partly because of the way NR planters coming from emerging markets, Gy- It was quite a different story in China, pricing better than others. Malaysia and operate. When prices are low, nobody ftopoulou said, meaning higher demand she said, with more scope for substitu- India, she said, are two nations that re- plants NR trees. That eventually leads in those regions for NR. Consequently, tion. In 2014, there was a reduction in spond quickly, reducing output when pric- to material shortages that drive prices NR imports into China have risen sub- bulk SBR, as its prices were higher than es fall and increasing when prices pick up, so more planting is done. But because stantially from 2004-18, with smaller in- those of NR. The LMC data thus showed back up. The two nations, though, import it takes a newly planted NR tree seven creases into the Association of Southeast that the reduction in the demand for SR more NR when their production falls, be- years to mature and be ready for tap- Asian Nations and flat imports into the was made up for with an increase in de- cause both have the capacity to make end ping, in seven years’ time the market U.S. and Europe. mand for NR. rubber goods and still need the material. then typically sees record production, Substitution between NR and syn- In India, Gyftopoulou said rubber Thailand has less of a correlation. “When and that pushes prices down. thetic rubber also has been a factor that product makers traditionally had used a the prices of NR were falling after 2011, So in 2018 production levels hit near has played into pricing and demand for high proportion of natural rubber. the production in Thailand was rising, record levels of close to 14 million metric both material types, she said. When NR Starting around 2005, though, the de- which seems kind of strange,” Gyftopoulou tons despite prices that remained low, a prices reached record levels in 2011, the mand for NR in the nation dropped sub- said. “But if you think at the same time scenario that Gyftopoulou said can be difference between NR and SBR prices stantially irrespective of the price. “In that was the seven-year period after the traced to the record spike in NR prices was quite significant, bringing an in- that period, India developed its own SR new plantings were made in Thailand be- in 2011 that led to a spike in planting at centive for substitution. industry,” she said, “so it has a source of tween 2004 and 2008, that is why the pro- that time. But an LMC study found that substi- SR and its tire production started to duction increased. Those trees had ma- tution often depended on the market move more toward international norms.” tured and they had to start tapping.” Market variables and application, rather than just price LMC did a study to calculate the reve- About 85 percent of natural rubber difference. For example, the consulting NR production cycle nue between natural rubber and different demand comes from the tire industry, group found that Japan had a low level Natural rubber can only grow in very crops in northeast and southern Thai- with the rest from general rubber goods, of substitution, even when pricing gaps specific regions, mainly Southeast Asia land. In all cases, NR offers higher reve- she said. “Clearly, NR demand moves were higher. and West Africa. The bulk of production nue than other crops, including such with tire production,” she said.” “I don’t think in mature markets there still comes from smallholders with small commodities as sugarcane, rice, cassava Prior to 2010, the growth was tracing is much change with price,” Gyftopoulou plot sizes, and a Hevea tree typically has a and corn in northeast Thailand, and oil about 5 percent but has slowed in recent said. “The products have tight specifica- life of 32 years, with seven years to mature palm and rice in southern Thailand. years as tire growth has slowed. All tions and it’s difficult to change com- and then 25 years of active tapping. “That’s another reason that produc- growth in tire production currently is pounds for these products.” “Tapping is very labor intensive and tion has continued to rise despite the very frequent,” Gyftopoulou said. “There is fact that prices are lower because it will the possibility to use some stimulants to still give higher revenue to the farmer,” control the frequency of tapping. The yields Gyftopoulou said. can vary, depending on the clone used, the The high prices from 2011 also en- Our customers know density and the tapping frequency.” couraged some non-traditional nations Vietnam, Thailand and the Ivory Coast to boost NR plantings. Natural rubber have the top yields in terms of kilograms output in Vietnam and the Ivory Coast produced per hectare per year, according has grown substantially from 2012 to we’ll jump through to LMC data. Cambodia, China and Sri today, she said. Lanka have the worst yield rates. Despite the high production levels, Gy- There are seven main countries that ftopoulou said the surplus of supply over hoops for them. produce NR, with Thailand and Indone- demand dropped substantially in 2018 as sia alone accounting for more than 60 producers did respond somewhat to low- percent of the total, she said. And while er prices. “However, we have not seen any Flaming or otherwise. the tree planting typically peaks in con- actual reduction in area, just the frequen- junction with periods of high prices, cy of tapping has reduced,” she said. No matter how demanding or unusual Natural rubber production Production has risen to record levels despite low prices 14 your processing problems, if we say 13 NR Production Million metric tons we can do something, you know it will 12 11 get done. On time, in spec, without 10 9 anyone getting burned. 8 7 6   5 Co-Organizer of the 4 3 INTERNATIONAL LATEX CONFERENCE Certified To 2 800-664-1455 • 330-666-0045 • FAX 330-666-7842 ISO 9001 1 www.akrondispersions.com With Design 0 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 Source: LMC Tyre & Rubber Ltd. All rights reserved. www.rubbernews.com Rubber & Plastics News • July 29, 2019 11 SPECIAL REPORT Latex Book outlines rubber’s role in climate change By Miles Moore encouraging Reduced Emissions from Rubber & Plastics News Staff Deforestation and Forest Degradation SILCHAR, India—In Earth’s rapidly (REDD+) programs,” he wrote in reply changing climate, rubber plantations to emailed questions. have an important role to play in miti- Cash incentives could persuade farm- gating global warming, according to the ers to restore degraded land, according to authors of a new book. Nath. In Bhutan, he said, a sustainable Rubber Plantations and Carbon Man- land management program paid farmers agement, due out in September from “Land use conversion about $49 per acre to convert degraded Apple Academic Press, considers the land into terraced dry land. role of rubber plantations in the context from forest to any Because of low rubber prices, many of carbon sequestration—the process of rubber farmers are switching to other capturing and storing atmospheric car- plantation crop crops, such as agar wood and the areca bon dioxide, preventing its escape. accelerates erosion nut in India, Nath said. “The authors provide an in-depth “Land use conversion from forest to study of the carbon stock and sequestra- and depletes soil any plantation crop accelerates erosion tion potentiality of rubber plantations,” and depletes soil organic carbon,” he according to a news release. organic carbon.” said. “If existing rubber plantations are Rubber Plantations and Carbon Man- Arun Jyoti Nath converted to other cash crop plantations, agement addresses ecosystem biomass this will rather accelerate the carbon carbon losses through the clear felling of depletion process.” forests; ecosystem carbon sequestration; be encouraged, though progressive land Assam University in Silchar. The best strategy, according to Nath, and fine root dynamics in carbon bal- use changes … can enhance biomass Nath co-authored Rubber Plantations is to develop rubber agroforestry. ance under a rubber plantation manage- and soil stock,” according to the release. and Carbon Management with two col- “Promotion of diversified agroforestry ment system. While there is no specific role rubber leagues at Assam University, Biplab systems in which rubber plays an im- The book concludes with recommen- plantations play in carbon sequestra- Brahma and Ashesh Kumar Das. portant role, but is not planted as mono- dations about best management practic- tion, they do offer general benefits in Traditionally, planters have converted cultures, may be more beneficial.” es for Hevea tree plantation expansion that area, similar to but not as great as natural forests to community-managed Rubber Plantations and Carbon Man- in degraded forests, grasslands or fallow natural forests, according to Arun Jyoti or individually managed Hevea planta- agement may be preordered for $112.46; lands. “Rubber plantation development Nath, a professor in the Department of tions, Nath said. after publication, the price is $149.95 by replacing natural forests should not Ecology and Environmental Science at “Such conversion can be minimized by per copy. List of North American latex suppliers A Akrochem Corp. California Medical Innovations 989-636-1000 302-774-1000 3770 Embassy Pkwy. dba CMC Products www.dow.com www.plastics.dupont.com Akron, OH 44333 872 Towne Center Drive E 800-321-2260 Pomona, CA 91767 DSM NeoResins 199 Amaral St. Emerald Performance Materials www.akrochem.com 909-621-5871 www.cal-med-innovations.com East Providence, RI 02915 Polymer Additives Business Group Akron Dispersions Inc. 401-435-8800 240 W. Emerling Ave. www.dsm.com Akron, OH 44301 3291 Sawmill Road Celite Corp. 330-374-2418 Akron, OH 44321 (Imerys Filtration Materials) DuPont Performance Materials www.emeraldmaterials.com 330-666-0045 130 Castilian Drive 4417 Lancaster Pike www.akrondispersions.com Santa Barbara, CA 93117 Wilmington, DE 19805 See List, page 12 800-893-4445 Alternative Rubber & Plastics Inc. 805-562-0200 200 Creekside Drive www.worldminerals.com Amherst, NY 14228 716-691-2141 Centrotrade Minerals & Metals Inc. www.arpmaterials.com 676 Independence Pkwy., Suite 110 Renoil Process Oil puts Chesapeake, VA 23320 Angus Chemical Co. 757-518-2300 1500 E. Lake Cook Road www.centrotrade.net the soft in soft-touch TPEs Buffalo Grove, IL 60089 847-215-8600 ChemDeals Inc. www.angus.com P.O. Box 445 Enosburg Falls, VT 05450 Bring a luxurious feel and pliability to your 888-310-4416 soft-touch TPEs with Renoil Low Volatility Arkema Inc. www.chemdeals.com 900 First Ave. Process Oils. King of Prussia, PA 19406 Chemionics Corp. 610-205-7000 390 Munroe Falls Road These crystal clear mineral oils range in www.arkema-americas.com Tallmadge, OH 44278 viscosity from 70 to 1500 SUS @ 100F. So you Astlett Rubber Inc. 330-733-8834 can meet requirements, while extending your www.chemionics.com formulation and reducing the cost of your 277 Lakeshore Road East, #205 D Oakville, Ontario, Canada L6J 1H9 Denka Corp. nished TPE products. 800-387-1152 780 Third Ave., 8th Floor Additional advantages include: www.astlettrubber.com New York, NY 10017 B 212-688-8700 • Highly compatible with rubber polymers BASF Corp. denka.co.jp/eng • Extremely stable, low volatility 100 Park Ave. • Excellent UV color stability, even for Florham Park, NJ 07932 Dispersion Technology Inc. bright hues 800-526-1072 364 Adams St. www.basf.com/us Bedford Hills, NY 10507 Find out more at C 914-241-4791 Cabot Corp. www.dispersion.com renkertoil.com/products.html Two Seaport Lane #1300 Boston, MA 02210 Dow Chemical Co. 617-345-0100 2030 Dow Center 1 (800) 423-6457 or [email protected] www.cabot-corp.com Midland, MI 48674 12 Rubber & Plastics News • July 29, 2019 www.rubbernews.com SPECIAL REPORT Latex Conti pleased with dandelion rubber lab By Bruce Meyer Sustainable NR Rubber & Plastics News Staff The Conti exec added that the Global HANOVER, Germany—One of Con- Platform for Sustainable Rubber project tinental A.G.’s top research and devel- the firm signed up for has strong poten- opment officials is pleased with the tial. Conti and other major tire makers progress made thus far at its Tarax- joined the independent platform that is agum Lab Anklam research laboratory designed to improve the socio-economic for dandelion rubber. and environmental performance of the The 323,000-sq.-ft R&D center natural rubber chain. opened in December in Anklam, Ger- Topp said that Conti also is cooperat- many, and represented a roughly $40 ing with an NR producer on a joint million investment, Conti said at the project that would improve the ability of time of the opening. farmers to produce to a higher yield “It’s a dedicated through good conditions, providing sta- facility and a new bility for the company and the farmers. R&D location di- This effort is aimed as a backward rectly in the area integration of the supply chain, he said, where we have good and is something of a pilot project. “It’s conditions to do the not to be where this is the big sourcing agriculture,” An- for Continental,” Topp said. “It’s a pilot dreas Topp, Conti where we try to find out what is a way vice president of to do this backward integration to have material and pro- a documented, transparent path for the cess development Topp natural rubber from the local farmer to and industrializa- our tire plant.” tion, said from Conti headquarters in Today the whole supply chain is not Hanover. “It’s a plant where we are now transparent, and that’s a major prob- Officials gather for the opening of Conti’s Taraxagum lab in December 2018. developing the process to extract the lem, he said. Conti’s partner has expe- natural rubber from the roots of the Conti also unveiled the first bicycle tion to build a plant in the future,” rience in farming and giving support plants. That’s a big milestone for us.” tire made with the dandelion rubber Topp said. “So we have built our lab in to agricultural conditions in other After working about eight to nine last year, and that will become a se- an area which is designed in a way to crops, such as cotton and coffee. years on the alternative natural rub- ries production tire this year. “It’s grow as a production site also to do the In the end, Topp said the project will ber project, Topp is glad to see the Ta- very small quantities because of the first series production for regular tires. go to the global platform and help the raxagum plant in operation. “We are limited amount of material, but we In five to 10 years we hope that we get industry as a whole. “We have to do very optimistic that we are able to get are very proud to have the first serial there.” something as an industry because other- our targets achieved, which is to be as tire that a customer can buy with wise we don’t think it will be sustain- productive as conventional Hevea pro- dandelion tread,” he said. “It’s not the able,” he said. duction.” whole tire, just the tread, but it’s a From the technical side, he said very good step, we believe. And we Conti has demonstrated with both a will grow this over time as we have passenger car tire and a truck tire that more material available.” the firm understands the material and Topp added one reason Conti chose that the Taraxagum can replace natu- to begin production of the bike tire us- ral rubber in the applications. ing Taraxagum was because the new “Technically it’s a really good situa- site was producing quantities of mate- tion and we are really putting all the rial the firm didn’t feel comfortable efforts into breeding the plants to a putting to waste, so it put the material level where their productivity and to a practical use. whole plant agriculture is working,” While the lab still is in its early Topp said. “Also, for the industrial stages, the end goal of being able to scale we are developing all the equip- produce alternative NR in production ment to get the seeds in the ground quantities is getting closer. “We have and to harvest the plants to get the chosen the Anklam site because it of- Continental A.G.’s Taraxagum Lab Anklam in Anklam, Germany, is used to de- natural rubber out of the roots.” fers a huge site where we have an op- velop rubber from dandelions.

M HB Chemical Corp. Killian Latex Inc. Mallard Creek Polymers Inc. 1665 Enterprise Pkwy 2064 Killian Road 8901 Research Drive List Twinsburg, OH 44087 Akron, OH 44312 Charlotte, NC 28262 330-920-8023 330-644-6746 877-240-0171 Continued from page 11 www.hbchemical.com www.killianlatex.com www.mcpolymers.com Evonik 299 Jefferson Road Hexion Kraton Polymers U.S. L.L.C. Michelman Inc. Parsippany, NJ 07054 180 E. Broad St. 15710 John F. Kennedy Blvd., Suite 300 9080 Shell Road Cincinnati, OH 45236-1299 973-929-8000 Columbus, OH 43215 Houston, TX 77032 www.evonik.com 800-457-2866 513-793-7766 614-225-4000 www.michelman.com F www.hexion.com www.kraton.com Firestone Natural Rubber Co. Microban International Ltd. 535 Marriott Drive Holdens Latex Corp. Kumho Petrochemical Co. Ltd. 11400 Vanstory Drive P.O. Box 140990 121 Varick St. 10800 Sikes Place Huntersville, NC 28078 Nashville, TN 37214-0990 New York, NY 10013 No. 120 704-875-0806 Charlotte, NC 28277 615-937-1000 212-741-1770 www.microban.com 704-849-2959 www.firestonenaturalrubber.com http://holdenslatex.com N www.kkpc.com/eng/ I Nexeo Solutions Flint Group Pigments L 5200 Blazer Parkway IMCD U.S. P.O. Box 2219 2401 5th Ave. Lintech International L.L.C. 14725 Detroit Ave., Suite 300 7705 NE Industrial Blvd. Dublin, OH 43017 Huntington, WV 25703 Lakewood, OH 44107 Macon, GA 31216 800-531-7106 304-528-2300 216-228-8900 478-784-1900 www.nexeosolutions.com www.flintgrp.com www.imcdus.com www.lintechinternational.com O H K OCSiAl L.L.C. Harwick Standard Distribution Kenrich Petrochemicals Inc. Lubrizol Advanced Materials 500 S. Front St., Suite 860 60 S. Seiberling St. 570 Broadway, #32. 9911 Brecksville Road Columbus, OH 43215 Akron, OH 44305 Bayonne, NJ 07002-0032 Cleveland, OH 44141 415-906-5271 330-798-9300 201-823-9000 216-447-5000 www.ocsial.com www.harwick.com www.4kenrich.com www.lubrizol.com/engineeredpolymers See List, page 13 www.rubbernews.com Rubber & Plastics News • July 29, 2019 13 SPECIAL REPORT Latex Disease threatens natural rubber production By Miles Moore quarter of 2019, with sagging prices and tion is down 10-30 percent.” Severely infected leaves will dry and Rubber & Plastics News Staff a long wintering season partly to blame. Neofusicoccum ribis is not related to the fall or become abnormal on the branches WASHINGTON—Neofusicoccum ribis, “The new leaf fall disease in South Su- Microcyclus ulei ascomycete that caused of the tree, according to Muruganathan. one of more than 90 fungi in the genus Fu- matra might also have contributed to the leaf blight in Brazil, effectively ending Infected leaves fall about four months af- sicoccum, is causing leaf fall disease among drop,” Nguyen wrote. that country’s NR producing industry. ter infection, he said. Hevea brasiliensis trees in Indonesia. But other sources within the NR indus- It is a member of the Botryosphaeriaceae “The occurrence of Fusicoccum leaf fall How much of a problem this is creating, try said they doubted that the Fusicoccum family of sac fungi, which are common disease can also have far-reaching effects however, depends on whom you ask. fungus was spreading quickly or having parasites on a large variety of plants. as a result of international trade, as they “The future of the Indonesian Hevea re- much of an effect. Fusicoccum species were isolated from may be spread undetected from one area to mains at risk,” said Kavickumar s/o Muru- “Yes, there is a leaf blight in Indonesia, infected leaves collected from rubber another, causing potentially serious dam- ganathan, vice president, environment, but it’s been contained in the area where plantations in three widely separated lo- age to hosts that might have no co-evolved health & safety at Halcyon Agri Corp. Ltd., it is,” said one industry source who asked cations in Malaysia in 2010, according to resistance,” Muruganathan wrote. in an October 2018 article titled, “The Sor- to remain anonymous. a paper published in The Plant Pathology As of October 2018, research into Fusi- ry State of the Indonesian Hevea.” The information available on Indone- Journal in 2013. The fungus was in Ma- coccum was limited, and there were no “Vast swathes of rubber trees have al- sian leaf fall disease in the West is frag- laysia as early as 1987, according to vari- studies considering its potential economic ready been lost to the Fusicoccum pathogen, mentary and often contradictory, accord- ous reports. impact, according to Muruganathan. and more losses are due until a concrete ing to Alan L. Grant Polymer. Leaf fall disease first occurred in North Applying fertilizer to Hevea trees to solution is found to combat this dilapidating According to the estimate now circulat- Sumatra in 2016 and had spread to South balance their nutrients is generally the disease,” Muruganathan wrote. ing, about 100,000 hectares (slightly less Sumatra by the following year, according best way to prevent leaf fall disease, ac- The March 2019 issue of Natural Rub- than 250,000 acres) of NR-growing land to Muruganathan. cording to various sources. However, the ber Trends & Statistics, the monthly in Indonesia has been affected by the It then spread to areas in South Kali- current low prices for NR have discour- publication of the Association of Natural fungus, said the Norfolk, Va.-based rub- mantan, Java, Lampung and Central Su- aged careful upkeep of rubber trees. Rubber Producing Countries, suggested ber supplier. lawesi, he said. “People aren’t fertilizing the trees the Fusicoccum fungus was a problem “This represents 3 percent of Indone- “Fusicoccum leaf fall disease usually enough to fight the disease,” the anony- affecting NR supplies in Indonesia. sia’s mature growing area, meaning im- attacks young leaves,” he wrote. “The mous source said. In that issue, ANRPC Secretary Gen- pact on Indonesian production is only 3 first symptom is brown spots on the Halcyon Agri did not respond to an eral Nguyen Ngoc Bich noted that world percent,” the company said. “(But) other leaves. The small spots will change from email requesting further information on NR production fell 5.2 percent in the first sources are claiming Indonesian produc- light to dark brown.” leaf blight disease.

RCMA Americas Inc. Sri Trang USA Inc. Vanderbilt Chemicals L.L.C. 150 Boush St., Suite 1000 5401 W. Kennedy Blvd., Suite 760 30 Winfield St. List Norfolk, VA 23510 Tampa, FL 33609 Norwalk, CT 06855 757-544-9987 813-606-4301 203-853-1400 Continued from page 12 www.rcma.com www.sritranggroup.com www.vanderbiltchemicals.com Omnova Solutions Inc. 25435 Harvard Road RCMA Americas Inc. Synthomer L.L.C. Versalis Americas Inc. Beachwood, OH 44122-6201 Synthetic Division 3379 Peachtree Road NE, Suite 750 1200 Smith, Suite 1700 216-682-7000 1507 Boettler Road Atlanta, GA 30326 Houston, TX 77002 678-400-6655 www.omnova.com Uniontown, OH 44685 713-393-6142 www.synthomer.com 330-896-5900 www.versalis.eni.com Oxiteno USA L.L.C. T www.rcma.com Tech Industrials Inc. 9801 Bay Area Blvd. Vystar Corp. Pasadena, TX 77507 37-02 Lenox Drive RPM International Inc. Fair Lawn, NJ 07410 2484 Briarcliff Road NE, #22 281-909-7600 2628 Pearl Road Atlanta, GA 30329 www.oxiteno.us 201-475-5600 P.O. Box 777 866-674-5238 P www.techindustrials.com Medina, OH 44258 www.vytex.com Pacific Coast Chemicals Co. W 2424 Fourth St. 330-273-5090 Technical Industries Inc. 217 Church St. Berkeley, CA 94710 www.rpminc.com W.F. Taylor Co. Inc. P.O. Box 65 11545 Pacific Ave. 800-348-1579 Peace Dale, RI 02883 www.pcchem.com Ribelin Sales Inc. Fontana, CA 92337 3857 Miller Park Drive 401-783-5887 800-868-4583 Pilot Chemical Co. Garland, TX 75042 www.tidispersion.com www.wftaylor.com 2744 E. Kemper Road 800-374-1594 Textile Rubber & Chemical Co. Inc. Cincinnati, OH 45241 www.ribelin.com Western Reserve Chemical Corp. Coatings & Adhesives Division 4837 Darrow Road, Suite 102 513-326-0600 63 Water St. www.pilotchemical.com Royal Adhesives & Sealants L.L.C. Stow, OH 44224 4401 Page Ave. P.O. Box 2760 330-650-2244 Fall River, MA 02722 PolyOne Corp. Michigan Center, MI 49254 www.wrchem.com 508-675-0181 Y 33587 Walker Road 517-764-0334 www.trcc.com Avon Lake, OH 44012 www.royaladhesives.com Yulex Corp. 440-930-1000 S Textile Rubber & Chemical Co. Inc. 4802 E. Ray Road, Suite 23-405 www.polyone.com Showa Denko America Inc. Polymer Technology Group Phoenix, AZ 85044 420 Lexington Ave., Suite 2335A 1300 Tiarco Drive SW 877-629-6810 PolyTech Synergies L.L.C. New York, NY 10170 Dalton, GA 30721 http://yulex.com 84 Deer Valley Drive 212-370-0033 706-277-1300 Z Clinton, OH 44216 www.showadenko.us www.ptgtrcc.com Zeon Chemicals L.P. 330-618-7035 4111 Bells Lane www.polytechsynergies.com Solar Compounds Corp. Textile Rubber & Chemical Co. Inc. Louisville, KY 40211 1201 W. Blancke St. Tiarco Chemical Division 502-775-2000 Polytek Development Corp. Linden, NJ 07036 1300 Tiarco Drive SW www.zeonchemicals.com 55 Hilton St. 908-862-2813 Dalton, GA 30721 Easton, PA 18042 www.solarcompounds.com 706-270-5959 610-559-8620 www.tiarco.com www.polytek.com Solvay Specialty Polymers USA L.L.C. 10 Leonard Lane Tumpeer Chemical Co. Polyurethane Corp. of America 345 N. Quentin Road W. Deptford, NJ 08086 P.O. Box 45 Palantine, IL 60067 Marblehead, MA 09145 856-853-8119 847-358-5600 781-631-2094 www.solvay.com www.tumpeerchemical.com R V R1 International (Americas) Inc. Southland Rubber L.L.C. Valley Rubber Mixing/Glo-Mold 250 W. Main St., Suite 101 620 N. Tejon St., Suite 201 115 W. Bartges St. Charlottesville, VA 22902 Colorado Springs, CO 80903 Akron, OH 44311 434-817-8800 719-373-8879 330-434-4442 www.r1international.com http://southlandrubberusa.com www.valleyrubber.com GREEN TIRE September 25-26, 2019 Sheraton Suites Akron/Cuyahoga Falls ITEC IN FOCUS Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, USA RubberNews.com/InFocus SPEAKERS ANNOUNCED Topics include bio materials as alternatives to rubber, sustainability, recycling, silica treads, and more. The agenda includes several Plenary speakers in addition to other experts.

Featured speakers include:

PLENARY SPEAKER Frank Pappas Liqun Zhang, Ph.D. Business Development Manager Dean, College of Materials Science ACE Products & Consulting and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology

Bruce Lambillotte Edward Terrill, Ph.D. Vice President, Technical Consulting Applied Research Fellow Smithers Rapra North America Akron Rubber Development Lab

STUDENT AND GROUP DISCOUNTS AVAILABLE In anticipation of the strong interest for this topic, and a desire to provide information on sustainability in the tire industry, the conference organizers are providing two new opportunities for attendees. 1. ITEC In Focus: Green Tire is pleased to invite students from college or graduate degree programs to register for free until Wed., Sept, 18. After that, students must pay $25 to attend. Students will be required to provide a valid student ID at registration. 2. Companies wishing to send three or more attendees can get a special group discount. For more information about either of these special registration opportunities, contact Sarah Arnold, Events Manager at [email protected].

Registration includes access to all sessions and exhibitors, networking opportunities during refreshment breaks, lunch and the opening night reception, all of which are included in the cost of registration. Following the conference, attendees will have access to all available presentations.

Early Bird Savings on all registrations are available until Mon., Aug. 26. Register today at RubberNews.com/InFocus

EXHIBIT & SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE CONTACT Pete McNeil, sales representative Brent Weaver, sales manager 330-865-6109 or [email protected] 330-865-6119 or [email protected]

RubberNews.com/InFocus www.rubbernews.com Rubber & Plastics News • July 29, 2019 15 Technical How natural rubber improves the fatigue lifetime of EPDM By Christoph Goegelein Arlanxeo Deutschland GmbH John Beelen, Martin van Duin Executive summary The authors and Niels van der Aar The latest development of ultra-high molar mass EPDM rubbers enables the Arlanxeo B.V. formulation of compounds with up to date unseen, superior mechanical and During the last decade, new demands dynamic properties, especially at elevated temperatures. on the heat stability of rubber parts Using sulfur-vulcanized blends containing Keltan 9565Q with a small have been made by the automotive in- amount of natural rubber, a significant increase of crack growth resistance and dustry. Because of stricter emission fatigue lifetime was obtained without deteriorating the excellent heat stability control specifications, smaller engine of EPDM-based compounds. compartment sizes and reduced air flow, The study shows the findings on the morphology and microscopic dynam- the temperature under the hood has in- ic-mechanical properties of these nano-dispersed rubber blends. As a result, a creased substantially and will continue crack inhibition mechanism, which may explain both the high tear resistance to do so. and fatigue lifetime, is recommended. Applications such as cardan shafts, gear Goegelein Beelen Automotive rubber products for dy- boxes and engine mounts may benefit from the advantage of the saturated namic applications such as tie bars, polymer backbone of EPDM, the strength and resilience of ultra-high molar flexible couplings, bushings and (engine, mass EPDM and the compounding techniques presented.

TECHNICAL NOTEBOOK the first material of choice for these properties. High heat resistance re- Edited by John Dick types of dynamic applications. Recent quires a rubber with a saturated poly- specifications from the automotive in- mer backbone, and the best candidate gear box and muffler) mounts are di- dustry sometimes require extended as an alternative rubber for high-tem- rectly affected by this development. In hot-air aging tests up to 130°C. perature dynamic applications is EPDM. many cases, the temperatures are al- There is an urgent demand for alter- To reach dynamic properties similar to ready above those recommended (<80°C) native rubber materials with both good NR, the ultra-high molecular weight for natural rubber, which is currently heat stability and excellent dynamic Keltan 9565Q grade has been developed. van Duin van der Aar The excellent elastic properties of this Fig. 1: Crack growth rate of EPDM/NR compounds. Tear analyzer data shown for EPDM product have been demonstrated Christoph Goegelein obtained a 0.5 MPa stress. in previous studies.1,2 master’s degree in both mechanical Whereas EPDM has strong heat sta- engineering and physics at the Uni- bility, its fatigue properties are only versity of Technology Darmstadt, moderate. In contrast, NR has outstand- Germany. He then went to the Re- ing fatigue properties, but poor heat research Center in Juelich and received sistance. To leverage the inherent heat, a doctorate in soft matter physics at ozone and weather resistance of EPDM the Heinrich-Heine-University Duessel- and to improve upon its known short- dorf. Afterwards, he stayed as a coming of fatigue life, this study looked postdoc at the Max-Planck-Institute at EPDM blends with small amounts of for Dynamics and Self-Organization NR. A standard, efficient sulfur-based in Goettingen. crosslinking system was used. He’s been working as an innova- The results show that a relatively low tion project manager at Arlanxeo in NR content of 5-15 phr reduces the crack Leverkusen, Germany, since 2012. growth rate by about a decade (Fig. 1). His work focuses on the morphology This observation is discussed in detail and mechanical properties of elas- in a previous study published in the tomers and polymer blends. German journal GAK—Gummi Fasern Martin van Duin is a principal sci- Kunststoffe.3 To rationalize this tre- entist at Arlanxeo. Structure/reactiv- mendous improvement in tear resis- ity performance relationships have Fig. 2: TEM images of (a) crosslinked EPDM rubber reinforced with carbon black, tance, this study investigated the blend been the primary focus of his profes- and (b) blend with additional 5 phr natural rubber. morphology in detail using both trans- sional and scientific career. He brings mission electron microscopy (TEM) and experience in rubber crosslinking, atomic force microscopy (AFM). polymer modification, reactive extrusion, thermoplastic vulcanizates and Results rubber structure/properties relation- Blend morphology with transmission ships. He holds a position as part-time electron microscopy professor on rubber products at the In Fig. 2 high resolution TEM images Rijks Universiteit Groningen. of vulcanized rubber compounds are John Beelen is a senior technical displayed. In Fig. 2 (a) the morphology manager at Arlanxeo. His responsi- of carbon black filled EPDM can be ob- bilites include polymer and applica- served, while in Fig. 2 (b) that of a tion development for Keltan EPDM. blend of the same CB filled EPDM with Recently he has been working on the 5 phr of NR is shown. development of an ultra high Mw To increase the electron density con- EPDM for heat stable dynamic appli- trast between the EPDM and NR phases, cations to replace natural rubber. the rubber cryo-coupe was stained with Niels van der Aar is director of Fig. 3: NR domain size obtained from image analysis of TEM micrographs of sul- osmium tetroxide. In both TEM images business development for the Arlanxeo fur-vulcanized, carbon black containing rubber compounds. Nanometer-sized NR the CB aggregates, consisting of primary product lines EPDM and NBR. He ob- droplets are observed in Region I, which do not contain CB. In Region II NR drop- particles of ~50 nm, can easily be identi- tained his doctorate at the University lets co-exist with larger NR domains which do contain CB particles. fied. Close inspection of Fig. 2 (b) shows of Twente in the Netherlands in 1998. that NR phase is present as tiny dis- He joined the Keltan EPDM busi- persed droplets of 20-50 nm in diameter. ness group at DSM in 1998. He These droplets are smaller than the pri- started in technical service and mary CB particles. product development. Since than he In Fig. 3 the average NR domain size held various positions within Keltan is correlated to the NR content. Up to an such as lab manager, product man- NR content of 9 phr, dispersed NR drop- ager and global head of technical lets are observed and no CB aggregates service and application development. are located within the NR phase. For In 2011 Lanxess acquired the busi- NR contents above 9 phr, NR droplets ness group Keltan from DSM. And in coexist with larger NR domains which 2016 Keltan became part of Arlanxeo, do contain CB filler particles. which is a joint venture between Lanxess and Saudi Aramco. On Jan. Blend morphology using atomic force 1, Saudi Aramco took 100 percent microscopy ownership of Arlanxeo. Niels is cur- Next, we used AFM measurements as rently working from the Arlanxeo of- outlined in a 2016 study published in fice in Geleen, Netherlands. See Rubber, page 16 16 Rubber & Plastics News • July 29, 2019 www.rubbernews.com Technical

AFM. higher solubility in high-unsaturated NR properties because of the strain-induced A detailed look at the bound rubber than in low-unsaturated EPDM, a more crystallization effect. Rubber layer in CB reinforced tire tread com- than average amount of cross linking pounds was presented in the Colloid chemicals will be preferentially located Conclusions Continued from page 15 study.4 It is interesting to relate these in the NR phase. As a consequence, the Adding small amounts of NR improves Colloid and Polymer Science4 to study findings on the blend morphology with crosslink density of the EPDM matrix is significantly the crack growth resis- the dynamic-mechanical properties of the enhanced crack growth resistance of reduced. tance and fatigue lifetime of EPDM the rubber phases. The bimodal AFM EPDM/NR compounds seen in Fig. 1. To compensate for this effect, we in- compounds based on ultra-high molecu- technique5 reveals both the loss factor, Since our AFM data show that the NR creased the amount of sulfur curatives lar weight Keltan 9565Q. The results tan(δ), and the elastic modulus E’ with a droplets are softer than the EPDM ma- by a factor of about two in the optimized from the dumbbell tests, which is simi- single AFM scan. AFM images for a CB trix (Fig. 4 (f)), this study supposes that compound (Table 1). The effect of this lar to basic vibration mounts, are an in- reinforced EPDM blend with 10 phr NR the NR domains induce a crack inhibition so-called compensation is revealed in dication that the EPDM/NR blends can are displayed in Fig. 4. mechanism similar to rubber toughening more detail in Fig. 7. By doubling the reach fatigue lifetimes equal to or better As expected, CB particles have a low in thermoplastics. Once a propagating sulfur and accelerator content, the fa- than the NR reference. tan(δ) and a high E’ value, whereas the crack hits a soft NR droplet, the energy is tigue lifetime is much improved; the TEM and AFM experiments have rubber matrix exhibits both a relatively dissipated and the crack stops. number of cycles until failure occurs shown that NR is present as nanome- high tan(δ) and a low E’ value (Figs. 4 shifts to a significantly larger value. ter-sized droplets without CB in the (c) and (d)). In addition, a line scan Fatigue lifetime tests As expected, this effect is more pro- EPDM matrix at 5-10 phr NR. More re- across an NR domain is presented in Three-dimensional dumbbells are nounced at higher NR contents, cf. data search is needed to reveal the crack in- Figs. 4 (e) and (f). This line scan re- used to study the fatigue lifetime of CB sets for EPDM blends with 2.5 and 5 hibition mechanism induced by soft, veals that the NR domain is softer than reinforced EPDM/NR compounds. Fig. phr NR. nanometer-sized droplets. In particular, the surrounding EPDM matrix. 6 shows the dimensions and the sample it is intriguing to determine whether A detailed investigation of the dynam- holder. The test specimens were subject- Woehler curves this mechanism is generic for immisci- ic-mechanical properties of the NR do- ed to uniaxial and sinusoidal deforma- Using test bobbins typically designed ble rubber blends at low concentrations mains is presented in,6 where the effect tion with 80 N pre-load and 150 N for the automotive industry, we conduct- of the softer rubber. of the NR content and both solubility peak-to-peak force amplitude at 1 Hz ed fatigue lifetime tests at various load and distribution of curatives and plasti- and a temperature of 70°C. values to construct Woehler curves. In Acknowledgements cizer in the EPDM and NR phases are Table 1 gives the results for the NR Fig. 8, Woehler curves for the NR refer- We thank Dina Gabriel and Alexan- discussed. reference material, CB reinforced ence system and for an optimized EPDM/ der Karbach (Currenta GmbH & Co. EPDM and an EPDM/NR blend with an NR blend are shown as examples. OHG) for the AFM images, Brigitte Proposal for crack inhibition mechanism optimized vulcanization system. Re- The Woehler curves intersect at medi- Mosbach-Wetzka (Bayer Technology The morphology of CB reinforced EPDM markably, the EPDM/NR blend was um load range. At low loads, the opti- Service GmbH) for the high resolution blends with small amounts of NR is found to have an equal tensile strength, mized EPDM/NR blend has a higher fa- TEM micrographs, and the Arlanxeo sketched in Fig. 5 (a). Most remarkable loss factor and fatigue lifetime as the tigue lifetime than the NR reference Polymer Testing laboratory for mixing, about this sketch is that today we can find NR reference. compound. We suppose that organic im- vulcanization and testing of the rubber both the size and dynamic-mechanical purities give rise to the early failure of samples. properties of both the bound rubber layer Compensation of crosslink density NR. At high loads, NR has better fatigue See Rubber, page 18 and nanometer-sized NR droplets using Since sulfur and accelerators have a Fig. 5: (a) Sketch of morphology of carbon black reinforced EPDM/NR blend. (b) Fig. 4: AFM microscope images for a carbon black reinforced EPDM blend with 10 Schematic crack inhibition mechanism. phr NR: (a) Loss factor tan(δ) and (b) storage modulus E’ distribution. The yellow bars show the positions of the line scans across an NR domain and a CB particle. (c) Tan(δ) and (d) E’ across a single carbon black particle. The bound rubber layer (BdR) has a higher tan(δ) than the EPDM matrix. (e) Tan(δ) and (f) E’ across an NR domain. The tan(δ) scan (e) indicates an extended interphase (IP). Note that the NR domain has a lower E’ than the surrounding EPDM matrix.

Fig. 6: (a) Drawing of three-dimensional dumbbell used for fatigue lifetime tests. (b) Test specimen before insertion in sample holder. (c) Mounted test specimen.

Table 1: Tensile test results, loss factor, and fatigue lifetime obtained for carbon black reinforced NR, EPDM and EPDM/NR compounds. INTERNATIONAL THE LATEX CONFERENCE OPENS THIS WEEK, CONFERENCE REGISTER NOW! RubberNews.com/LatexEvent AUGUST 6-7, 2019 Hilton Akron/Fairlawn • Akron, Ohio, USA

TUESDAY, AUGUST 6 3:15 PM - 3:40 PM ASTM International Committee D11 on Rubber and Rubber-Like Materials 9:00 AM - 9:05 AM Dan Smith, ASTM International Opening Remarks 3:40 PM - 4:05 PM 9:05 AM - 9:30 AM A Mechanistic Study of Water Evaporation from Wet-Acrylic Latexes Films Carbon Dioxide Responsive Polymers for use in Protective Coatings James Taylor, Ph.D.. BASF Corporation (Ret.) Michael Cunningham, Ph.D., Queen’s University 4:05 PM - 5:05 PM Latex Challenge 9:30 AM - 9:55 AM Manufacturing Smart Ideas: New Ideas on Moving R&D Innovations 5:05 PM - 6:30 PM Networking Reception - Compliments of Tiarco to Manufacturing Faster and at Higher Value Darrell Velegol, Ph.D., Penn State University 8:30 PM - 11:00 PM Akron Dispersion's Casino Night 9:55 AM - 10:20 AM Rubber Particle Proteins, Amino Acids, and Lipids in Natural Rubber Latex WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7 Colleen McMahan, Ph.D., USDA 8:40 AM - 8:45 AM 10:20 AM - 10:50 AM Networking Break - Compliments of Alan L. Grant Opening Remarks 10:50 AM - 11:15 AM 8:45 AM - 9:10 AM Synthetic Latex Feedstock Trends: An Eventual Return to Normal Factors Contributing to the Perfect Storm: What Innovation Needs Market Volatility Does This Present? Bill Hyde, IHS Wava Truscott, Ph.D., Truscott MedSci Associates 11:15 AM - 11:40 PM 9:10 AM - 9:35 AM Recent Advances in Chloroprene Rubber Latex for Dipping Applications Natural Latex Sustainability Mousumi DeSarkar, Ph.D., Denka Corporation Whitney Luckett, Southland Rubber LLC 11:40 AM - 12:05 PM 9:35 AM - 10:00 AM Update on Testing to Better Identify Polymer Performance Guayule Latex Strippable Paints and Coatings for Particulate Removal in Asphalt Emulsions Katrina Cornish, Ph.D., FNAI, FAAAS, The Ohio State University Arlis Kadrmas, BASF Corporation 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM Networking Break - Compliments of Alan L. Grant 12:05 PM - 1:30 PM Lunch - Compliments of Centrotrade 10:30 AM - 10:55 AM 1:30 PM - 1:55 PM ULPNR Latex -A Platform for Sustainable NR Intermediates, New Latex Binder Innovations for Technical Textiles Bioelastoplastics and Products Brian Maxwell, Ph.D., Synthomer USA, LLC Ranjit Matthan, Ph.D., Vystar Corporation

1:55 PM - 2:20 PM 10:55 AM - 11:20 AM Nitrile Chemistry: Can Innovation Lead us Into More Sustainable Demystifying Biodegradation and the Circular Economy Environment? of Rubber Products Thian Hong Ng, Ph.D., Synthomer Sdn Bhd Teresa Clark, ENSO Plastics, LLC

2:20 PM - 2:45 PM 11:20 AM - 11:45 PM A Predictive Model, using N-nitrosamine Toxicological Data, Sustainable Production of Hypoallergenic Latex in North America for the Design of Safer Rubber Accelerators Anvar Buranov, Ph.D., Nova Bio-Rubber Green Tech. Amandeep Panaser, Ph.D., Robinson Brothers 11:45 PM - 12:15 PM 2:45 PM - 3:15 PM Networking Break - Compliments of Alan L. Grant Industry Panel Discussion and Closing Remarks

* Presentations are subject to change. Visit RubberNews.com/LatexEvent for the latest agenda

EVENT ORGANIZER

SPONSORS & EXHIBITORS

Alan L Grant

CORRIE MACCOLL LIMITED

RUBBERNEWS.COM/LATEXEVENT 18 Rubber & Plastics News • July 29, 2019 www.rubbernews.com Calendar Rubber groups com) Chicago Rubber Group: Wisconsin Golf Outing, IN COMING WEEKS Scrap Tire Research and Education Foundation: Aug. 14, Hawk’s View Golf Club, Lake Geneva, Wis.; 8th scrap tire conference co-sponsored by the U.S. Tire Fall technical meeting, Sept. 19, TopGolf, Wood Dale, Manufacturers Association, Dec. 4-5, Hyatt Regency, Ill. (www.chicagorubbergroup.org) CAR Group: Management Briefing International Latex Conference: Fair- Greenville, S.C. (www.stref.org)

Detroit Rubber Group: Board meeting, Sept. 16, Seminars ...... Aug. 5 lawn, Ohio...... Aug. 6 Thermoplastic Concentrates 2020: Examines key venue TBD; Fall technical symposium, Nov. 20, venue issues facing the thermoplastic concentrates industry, TBD; Holiday board meeting, Dec. 2, venue TBD. (Jim Jan. 28-30, Fort Lauderdale Marriott Coral Springs Eddy, [email protected]; www.rubber.org) iLearn Innovation Institute: Applied Los Angeles Rubber Group: Board Golf Resort, Coral Springs, Fla. (Stephanie Berchem, rubber technology...... Aug. 6 meeting...... Aug. 7 610-478-0800, [email protected]; www.amiplas- Energy Polymer Group: Educational symposium, tics-na.com/events) Sept. 17-18, Tremont House, Galveston, Texas; Fall technical meeting, Sept. 19, Tremont House, Galves- Tire Technology Expo 2020: 20th showcase for the ton, Texas; Winter technical meeting, Jan. 16, Mariott sing, Mich. (Keith Korthals, 989-435-7400, ka- construction chemicals and adhesives, March 30-April global tire design, development and manufacturing in- Town Place, Sugar Land, Texas. (www.energypolymer- [email protected], www.michiganrubber- 2, Indianapolis Convention Center, Indianapolis. dustry, March 25-27, Deutsche Messe, Hanover, Ger- group.org) group.com) (www.american-coatings-show.com) many. (www.tiretechnology-expo.com)

Fort Wayne Rubber & Plastics Group: Technical Mid-Atlantic Rubber & Plastics Group: Fall tech- Chem Show: Focus on key issues facing today’s chem- T-PLAS 2019: International Trade Fair for the Plas- meetings, Sept. 12 and Dec. 5, Ceruti’s, Fort Wayne, nical meeting, Sept. 12, American Additive Manufac- ical processing market, Oct. 22-24, Javits Center, New tics and Rubber Industries, Sept. 18-21, Bangkok In- Ind. (www.fwrpg.org) turing, Philadelphia; Educational symposium, Nov. 14, York. (Steve Levine, [email protected]; www. ternational Trade and Exhibition Center, Bangkok. Lehigh University/Iacocca Hall, Bethelhem, Pa. (Bruce chemshow.com) (312-781-5180; [email protected]; www.tplas.com) Los Angeles Rubber Group: Board meeting, Aug. 7, Rhoades, [email protected]; www.marpg.org) Vip Rubber Co. Inc., La Habra, Calif.; Golf tournament, Hose Manufacturers’ Conference: Symposium for Traction Summit 2019: Tire conference, Oct. 16-18, Aug. 12, Alta Vista Country Club, Placentia, Calif.; New England Rubber Group: Golf outing, Aug. 6, the rubber hose manufacturing industry, Nov. 12-13, Hayes Mansion, San Jose, Calif. (www.tractionsum- Board meeting and technical conference, Oct. 2, Phoe- Blackstone National Golf Club, Sutton, Mass.; Fall Sheraton Suites, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, organized by mit.com) nix Club, Anaheim, Calif.; Golf tournamnet, Nov. 4, technical meeting or plant tour, Nov. 12, TBD. (www. Rubber & Plastics News, Beaver Manufacturing and venue TBD; Christmas party, Dec. 7, Hilton Orange nerpg.com) Continental ContiTech. ([email protected]; www. Trade/technical associations County, Costa Mesa, Calif. (www.tlargi.org) rubbernews.com/conferences) Ohio Rubber Group: Golf outing, Aug. 26, Silver ACS Rubber Division: International Elastomer Mexico Rubber Group: Courses on Aug. 29, Oct. 17 Lake Country Club, Silver Lake, Ohio; Technical iLearn Innovation Institute: A division of Ace Conference, featuring Rubber Expo, 196th Technical and Nov. 21, Rubber Chamber Auditorium; 55 year anni- meeting, Sept. 24, Hilton Garden Inn, Twinsburg, Products & Consulting L.L.C., all courses held at Ace Meeting & Education Symposium, Oct. 9-11, Hunting- versary breakfast, Concamin Ballroom, Sept. 27; End of Ohio. (www.ohiorubbergroup.org) Products in Ravenna, Ohio; Applied rubber technology, ton Convention Center, Cleveland. (330-595-5531; year luncheon, Dec. 5, Concamin Ballroom. (52-55- Aug. 6-7; Specialized training seminars focused on www.rubber.org) 55666199; 52-55-55352266; Francisco Martha cnih1@ Twin Cities Rubber Group: Technical meetings, Sept. rubber processing (in collaboration with TechnoBiz), prodigy.net.mx; Miguel Bernal [email protected]; 19, Nov. 21, Holiday Inn Arbor Lakes, Maple Grove, Minn. Dec. 2-5. (Christie Robinson, 330-577-4088, christie. Adhesive and Sealant Council: Executive Leader- Jose Gazano [email protected]; www.cnih.com. ([email protected]; www.twincitiesrubbergroup.org) [email protected]) ship Conference, Oct. 21-23, Sonseta Resort Hotel, Hil- mx) ton Head, S.C.; World Adhesive & Sealant Conference Seminars/conferences ITEC in Focus: Green Tire: Biennial event spot- and Expo, April 20-22, Hilton Chicago, Chicago. (www. Michigan Rubber Group: Technical meeting, Sept. lighting green tires and their impact on the tire indus- ascouncil.org) 11, TBD, Frankenmuth, Mich.; Technical meeting, American Coatings Show and Conference 2020: try, Sept. 25-26, Sheraton Suites, Cuyahoga Falls, Nov. 6, University Club at Michigan State, East Lan- Biennial event featuring coatings, paints, sealants, Ohio, organized by Rubber & Plastics News. (bweaver@ Association for Rubber Products Manufacturers: crain.com; www.rubbernews.com/conferences) Benchmarking and Best Practices Conference, Oct. 2-4, Marriott Downtown Indianapolis, Indianapolis. (317- ITEC: Tire Manufacturing: Biennial event spot- 863-4072; www.arpminc.org) lighting the tire manufacturing industry’s latest inno- Ace to host USA Rubber Training Week vations and trends, Sept. 15-17, 2020, John S. Knight Center for Automotive Research: CAR Manage- Center, Akron, organized by Rubber & Plastics News. ment Briefing Seminars featuring topics impacting the RAVENNA, Ohio—Ace Products & thermoplastic elastomers; and spe- ([email protected]; www.rubbernews.com/confer- automotive industry, Aug. 5-8, Grand Traverse Resort, Consulting will offer five specialized cialty rubbers. ences) Traverse City, Mich. (Lisa Hart, 734-929-0465. lhart@ training seminars on rubber process- The courses will be led by instruc- cargroup.org; www.cargroup.org) International Fluid Power Exhibition: Co-located ing in a collaboration with tor Robert Schuster, a with Conexpo-Con and AGG 2020 with a focus on inte- Fluid Sealing Association: Annual Meeting, Oct. 21- TechnoBiz. rubber scientist and tech- gration of fluid power with other technologies for power 25, Javitz Center, New York. (www.fluidsealing.com) USA Rubber Training nologist with more than transmission and motion control applications, March 10-14, Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas. (www. Gasket Fabricators Association: Semi-annual Week, designed for chem- 40 years in the rubber in- ifpe.com) meeting, Sept. 24-26, Lansdowne Resort & Spa, Lees- ists, engineers and techni- dustry. Ace said registra- burg, Va. (www.gasketfab.com) cal managers, will take tion is $1,800 for all four International Latex Conference: Exploring new applications, changing market dynamics and industry International Rubber Conference Organization: place Dec. 2-5 at Ace’s days and includes conti- trends, organized by Rubber & Plastics News and Ak- International Rubber Conference, Sept. 3-5, Kia Oval, Ravenna headquarters, nental breakfast and ron Dispersions, Aug. 6-7, Hilton Inn, Fairlawn, Ohio. London. (www.internationalrubberconference.org) according to a company lunch. ([email protected]; www.rubbernews/conferences) International Zinc Association: International Gal- news release. The training week is the K 2019: Trade fair for plastics and rubber held every vanizing Conference-India, Sept. 19-20, Le Meridien The classes over the first time the courses, three years, Oct. 16-23, Messe Duesseldorf, Duessel- New Delhi, New Delhi, India; 2019 Zinc Metal Round- four-day period include: which have been offered dorf, Germany. (www.k-online.com) table, Nov. 7-8, Chicago Marriott Downtown, Chicago; 2020 International Zinc & Zinc Oxide Conferences, Property design by opti- throughout Europe and MD&M West: Medical design and manufacturing Feb. 16-29, The Westin Kierland Resort & Spa, Scotts- mal curing technology; Asia, will be available in expo featuring suppliers to the medical industry, Feb. dale, Ariz. (www.zinc.org) the impact of compound- North America, Erick 11-13, Anaheim Convention Center, Anaheim, Calif. Sharp (www.mdmwest.mddionline.com) NIBA-The Belting Association: Annual convention, ing, mixing and vulcani- Sharp, Ace CEO and pres- Sept. 18-21, Gaylord National Resort & Convention zation on fatigue life and ident, said in a statement. Polyurethanes Technical Conference: Bringing Center, Washington. (www.niba.org) durability; reinforcement of rubber For more information and to regis- together industry leaders to discuss and learn about innovations and applications for polyurethanes, Oct. Tire Society: 38th annual meeting and conference on by low and high-aspect nano-fillers; ter, visit www.aceprodcon.com. 7-9, Gaylord Palms Resort & Convention Center, Or- tire science and technology, Sept. 10-11, Hilton Inn, lando, Fla. (http://polyurethane.americanchemistry. Fairlawn, Ohio. (www.tiresociety.org) Technical

References and N. van der Aar, “Formulating ultra-high molec- mann, K. Graf, and S. Kheirandish, “Bound rubber 1. P. Spanos, J. Beelen, and C. Goegelein, “Natural ular weight EPDM to match NR fatigue and dynam- morphology and loss tangent properties of carbon- rubber replacement by ultra-high molecular weight ic performance,” Rubber World 253 (2), 24 (2015). black-filled rubber compounds,” Colloid Polym. Sci. Rubber 3. J. Beelen, N. van der Aar, M. van Duin, P. 294, 501 (2016). EPDM in dynamic applications,” Rubber World 251 (3), 21 (2014). Spanos, and C. Goegelein, “Substitution von Natur- 5. D. Gabriel, Ph.D. thesis, University of Duis- Continued from page 16 2. P. Spanos, J. Beelen, C. Goegelein, M. van Duin, kautschuk durch ultrahoch-molekulares EPDM burg-Essen (2016). in dynamischen Anwendungen,” GAK—Gummi 6. C. Goegelein, H.J.H. Beelen, and M. van Duin, Fasern Kunststoffe 69, 154 (2016). “Morphological explanation of high tear resistance of Fig. 7: Improved fatigue lifetime upon increasing the sulfur and accelerator con- 4. D. Gabriel, A. Karbach, D. Drechsler, J. Gut- EPDM/NR rubber blends,” Soft Matter 13, 4241 (2017). tents. The number 2x indicates, for example, that the sulfur curatives content is doubled. Note here that the fatigue lifetime tests were all done at the same load. Fig. 8: Woehler curves for carbon black reinforced NR reference and optimized EPDM/NR blend. www.rubbernews.com Rubber & Plastics News • July 29, 2019 19 Hillenbrand to buy Milacron in $2 billion deal By Audrey LaForest ing extruder maker Coperion in 2012. and Bill Bregar Coperion makes large, highly engineered Plastics News extrusion lines for large projects at com- BATESVILLE, Ind.—Hillenbrand Inc., pounders and resin makers. the Batesville-based parent company of Milacron extruders produce construc- compounding extruder maker Coperion tion products such as PVC pipe, vinyl and auxiliary equipment firms K-Tron siding and decking. and Rotex, is buying Milacron Holdings “So (the deal) really expands a large, Corp. in a cash and stock deal valued at complementary position in extrusion,” about $2 billion. Goeke said. Executives of both companies said one Raver said the companies can cross- key area will be in extruders, making a sell extruders and material handling combined, stronger and more diversified equipment in the short to medium term. company. The deal also extends the combined Both companies also generate about company’s reach into end markets such one-third of their machinery-related sales as construction, consumer packaging au- from aftermarket spare parts and ser- tomotive, electronics, medical and recy- vice—so-called “consumables,” or busi- cling, he said. ness that brings in steadier sales than capital machinery. Machinery reaction Milacron CEO Tom Goeke said that Ownership changes, even big deals in- only about 35 percent of the total Mila- Milacron displayed the Cincinnati 2250 injection molding machine, staking the volving manufacturing behemoths like cron portfolio is sensitive to cycles thanks claim to the biggest at NPE2018. Hillenbrand Inc., the owner of Coperion, an- Milacron, are part of the plastics machin- to the Mold-Masters hot runner, DME nounced July 12 it is buying Milacron Holdings Corp. ery industry. mold-component and metal-cutting flu- “It happens and some for the good, some ids businesses. own. Based on Hillenbrand’s closing stock the closing, Hillenbrand expects cost for the bad,” said Bill Duff, general manag- The boards of directors of both compa- price on July 11, the final trading day be- savings of $50 million from reducing er of sales and marketing at Chinese ma- nies unanimously approved the sale, an- fore the announcement, the cash and public company costs, operating efficien- chinery maker Yizumi-HPM Corp. in Ibe- nounced July 12 and expected to close in stock amount for Milacron shareholders cies and better procurement economics. ria, Ohio. Parent company Guangdong the first quarter of 2020. The deal is subject is $18.07 per share, representing a premi- Yizumi Precision Machinery Co. Ltd. to approval by Milacron shareholders. um of about 38 percent to Milacron’s 30- Strong offer bought the intellectual property of HPM— The combined company is expected to day, volume-weighted average price. The news also comes about a week af- one of the earliest U.S. manufacturers of generate annual sales of nearly $3 billion Milacron’s stock soared 21 percent during ter Milacron said it had completed the injection molding presses—in 2011. and free cash flow of more than $325 July 12 premarket trading after news of the sale of its Uniloy blow molding machin- “We’re doing quite well, but we couldn’t million by 2021. Milacron had sales of buyout was released. Shares were still ery business to two private equity have done well without the investment $1.1 billion in 2018. It employs about trading high July 24, when the stock closed firms, Osgood Capital Group L.L.C. and from Yizumi,” Duff said. 5,800 people. Hillenbrand is a $1.8 bil- at $17.13. Hillenbrand stock tumbled 15 Cyprium Investment Partners L.L.C., for He added: “Will (Hillenbrand) invest in lion company with a global work force of percent before the market opened. Shares nearly $52 million. more capability with the company, or will roughly 6,500. Both companies Goeke said Milacron’s board care- they just take cash out of it? Time will tell.” are traded on the New York Stock “I firmly believe that this is the fully reviewed the offer to sell the Glenn Frohring, president of Absolute Exchange. company. Haitian Corp. in Worcester, Mass., said The combined operation will next step in Hillenbrand’s vision “This transaction represents a he wasn’t surprised by the announce- have $502 million in adjusted unique opportunity for Milacron,” ment, especially if Milacron was getting earnings before interest, taxes, to become a world-class global he said. “(Milacron leaders and pressure from investors to sell. depreciation and amortization. diversified industrial company.” board members) tested the waters “I don’t expect business to change for Hillenbrand, the manufacturer and found out that it is, in fact, a Milacron,” he said. “Hopefully it’s a pos- of burial caskets under the Joe Raver very good offer.” itive thing. We only wish the best for 100-year-old Batesville Casket Raver and Goeke gave analysts even the competitors in our industry.” brand, went public in 2008 and has been were trading down 11.1 percent to $34.56 some details about how the deal came Bill Wood, Plastics News economics diversifying into industrial machinery, on July 12. Shares closed at $35.37 on July together. It’s only about 50 miles between editor and founder of Mountaintop Eco- building a Process Equipment Group. 24. The stock has a 52-week high of $53.41 Batesville, Ind., and Milacron’s head- nomics & Research Inc., said the acqui- The acquisition of Milacron—the larg- and a 52-week low of $33.68. quarters in the Cincinnati suburb of Blue sition is “a pretty big deal.” est U.S. manufacturer of plastics ma- The $2 billion purchase price includes Ash, Ohio. Raver said the two met and “I don’t know of anybody bigger in the chinery—is global diversification on ste- $686 million in Milacron debt. Hillen- when they started talking about their U.S. as far as a machinery company for roids. Joe Raver, Hillenbrand president brand Chief Financial Officer Kristina respective businesses, “we discovered a the plastics industry,” he said of Mila- and CEO, said the deal gives the company Cerniglia said Hillenbrand is funding the lot of similarities.” One is in corporate cron. Given Milacron’s size and segment more global reach in all areas of the cash portion of the transaction with debt culture, they said—the self-styled Hillen- diversity in the U.S. plastics equipment plastics machinery sector. in a bridge financing facility. The company brand Operating Model is similar to Mi- market, Wood said he does not expect to “I firmly believe that this is the next will refinance Milacron’s debt, she told fi- lacron’s business philosophy. see many deals like this in the future. step in Hillenbrand’s vision to become a nancial analysts in the conference call. Raver and Goeke said the two compa- “This deal has clearly been in the world-class global diversified industrial After the deal closes, Hillenbrand will nies have very little overlap, including works for a long time, but I don’t really company,” Raver said in a conference focus on deleveraging its debt and later in the one product that they both make: think these kinds of deals are going to call after the announcement. “In the will again look at strategic acquisitions, extruders. be increasing,” he said. “This might ac- Milacron businesses, we’re getting, you Cerniglia said. Within three years after Hillenbrand bought German compound- tually be the last one.” know, really great technology, sizable customer install base. And these are good businesses with good growth profiles and operating margins.” Vystar to purchase Rotmans Furniture Raver added: “Milacron advances our strategy to drive long-term profitable WORCESTER, Mass.—Vystar Corp., manufacturer of Vytex This will allow Vystar to enhance the effectiveness and growth and value to our shareholders.” deproteinized natural rubber latex, has signed an agreement decrease the size and cost of RxAir systems, it said. Milacron brings Hillenbrand three to purchase Murida Furniture Co., dba Rotmans Furniture Rotmans is the largest furniture and flooring store in New business segments: Advanced Plastics and Carpet. England, and is one of the largest independent furniture re- Processing Technologies, which makes Vystar’s acquisition of Rotmans will add approximately tailers in the U.S., according to Vystar. Its 200,000-sq.-ft. injection molding machines, extruders $30 million to Vystar’s top-line revenue and enable the com- store in Worcester employs about 150 people, and the compa- and structural foam machines; Melt De- pany to capitalize on Rotmans’ infrastructure in accounting, ny’s 2018 gross revenue was more than $30 million. livery and Control Systems, which makes retail sales, customer service, warehousing and delivery, said Vystar has been busy on the research and development front hot runner and process control systems, Steve Rotman, CEO of both Vystar and Rotmans. as well. The firm, in a separate move, extended and expanded mold bases and components under the As for the acquisition, Vystar has acquired a controlling in- its multi-year contract with Ranjit Matthan, head of research Mold-Master, DME and Tirad brands; terest in Rotmans for $2.03 million, comprised of 25 percent and development for Vytex rubber latex commercial raw mate- and Fluid Technologies, the Cimcool cash over four to eight years and 75 percent in notes convertible rials and a member of the Vystar board of directors. product line of fluids for metalworking. into shares, according to a Vystar press release. Matthan will now oversee multiple new research initia- When the deal closes, Hillenbrand With the proposed acquisition, Vystar and Rotmans plan to tives, and will be in charge of research and development for shareholders will own about 84 percent collaborate on a number of initiatives relating to environmen- deproteinized dry rubber, which has potential in the auto- of the combined company and Milacron tally friendly product development and distribution that will motive tire market, according to Vystar. shareholders will own about 16 percent. utilize their combined access to capital markets, Vystar said. He also will continue development of custom formulations for Under terms of the agreement, Mila- With Vystar’s recently announced acquisition of Fluid En- specific applications of Vystar deproteinized latex, the company cron stockholders will receive $11.80 in ergy Solutions, Vystar said it anticipates accessing capital to said. The firm also has contracted with Polymer Consultancy cash and Hillenbrand common stock un- complete research and development to adapt FES technology Services for execution of specific R&D activities under Mat- der a fixed exchange rate of 0.1612 for to Vystar’s RxAir air purification systems. than’s direction, it said. each share of Milacron stock that they 20 Rubber & Plastics News • July 29, 2019 www.rubbernews.com

Brooke Stender Classified Sales Manager Phone: 330-865-6117 Email: [email protected] Classifieds Visit our website at: www.rubbernews.com

CURLING VALVES CUSTOM MANUFACTURING

DURBIN INDUSTRIAL VALVE Innovation Through Flow Synergy Series Intelligent Valves are non-pneumatic, servomotor-actuated industrial valves that provide improved speed, accuracy and reliability when compared to historical/vintage valve performance. The Synergy Series also provides closed-loop feedback, which can be monitored, evaluated and Tire engineering and utilized to improve process efciencies or effectively diagnose valve health and performance. specialty tire manufacturing. ISO-registered custom mixing, calendering and gum calendering processes. Contact Jerry Mikesell at 574.784.3409 or email: [email protected] www.hoosiertirecustommfg.com BUILD AWARENESS Traditional Synergy Series “Vintage” Digitized Pneumatic Valve Intelligent Valve With frequency in Rubber & Plastics News As our reputation for quality, cutting-edge technology, and service have grown, so has our international presence. Durbin Industrial Valve currently provides products and services globally, which reinforces the importance of re-engineering antiquated and Rubbernews.com ow systems or designing new products to improve energy efciency for our customers and our planet. Worldwide, we stand committed to providing our customers with the highest quality and most cost-effective products available. Call about our New Advertiser discount program that maximize your exposure! 330.724.9968 • [email protected] • www.durbinvalve.com CALL 330-865-6117 • EMAIL [email protected]

Don’t Miss Your Chance to Advertise in These Upcoming Issues Exciting new HELP YOUR opportunity August 12 September 9 October 7 Chemicals and Additives 34th Annual International BUSINESS Focus Issue Global Tire Report Elastomers Conference GROW Closes: July 31 Closes: August 28 Closes: September 25 IN 2019

August 26 September 23 October 21

Seals and Gaskets LSR Laboratory and Testing Increase your Help wanted ads Focus Issue Report Issue Focus Issue visibility by being featured in our Closes: August 14 Closes: September 11 Closes: October 9 Advertise in Most Read Stories of the Past Week newsletter. RPN Classifieds For more information Contact: Brooke Stender contact Brooke Stender tel: 330-865-6117 or [email protected] tel: 330-865-6117 or Contact Brooke Stender 330-865-6117 or [email protected] [email protected]

The Rubber Industry’s SOURCE for Molding Equipment & Supplies Visit our web site at: MMoldMART www.rubbernews.com COMPRESS PRESSES COMPRESS PRESSES COMPRESS PRESSES HYDRAULIC PRESSES MOLD RELEASES

RECLAIMED RUBBER EMPCO Hydraulic SBR • NR • EPDM • BUTYL Compression ERIE MILL & PRESS CO., INC. Presses for Custom Molding Solutions 814-454-1581 Rubber ASTM • Lower compound costs Testing 937-773-3420 • Get Consistent properties [email protected] www.frenchoil.com Contact us for reclaimed rubber www.EMPCO-INC.com wabashmpi.com [email protected]

PRESSES MOLDS Mold Mart MAXIMIZES your com exposure with print ads and RUBBER MOLDS online posting on 1-888-679-9533 RubberNews.com [email protected] Transfer & Compression Call or email for [email protected] introductory special rates: 33 0 - 8 6 5 - 6117 Visit us at: rubbernews.com Plastic & Composite Processing Equipment est. 1961 [email protected] www.trinksinc.com www.straton.com/molds www.rubbernews.com Rubber & Plastics News • July 29, 2019 21 Vibracoustic Continued from page 1 needs of Vibracoustic’s automotive customers. The proximity to its engineering and prototyping area in Weinhein will allow for a quick and efficient development process, Boecking said. The prototyping area will develop new raw compounds in small batches, which can be mixed and vulcanized to conduct further testing, Vibracoustic said. There also is a microcellular urethane shot machine to enhance testing and production of the foam material. Boecking said electrification is the main driver of new NVH challenges for the automotive industry. Those engines—be it a hybrid or fully electric vehicle— create vibrations in different frequency areas compared Vibracoustic’s new material development center (be- to combustion engines, requiring new material charac- low) will come equipped with a state-of-the art rheol- teristics and opening new opportunities for material ogy lab (above) among other capabilities to help the science companies like Vibracoustic. auto supplier develop advanced materials. Lower temperatures around electric motors com- A Vibracoustic employee operates the firm’s rubber pared to combustion engines gives Vibracoustic more mixing lab, part of its new Germany technical center. flexibility in using different kinds of materials to address the new NVH challenges within electric vehicles, employing 1,000 engineers worldwide. Boecking said in Boecking said. addition to the new center in Weinheim, sites in For- “The combination of our new facility and competen- sheda, Sweden; Nantes, France; South Haven, Mich.; cies in material development and the existing engi- and Wuxi, China; also are focusing on material science. neering, prototyping, benchmarking and testing infra- “All facilities work in close collaboration with each structure in Weinheim optimize our development other as well as with our engineering, testing and pro- efforts in creating new solutions for current and future duction facilities,” he said. NVH challenges,” Boecking said. In addition to the new center, Vibracoustic recently Based in Darmstadt, Germany, Vibracoustic employs invested about $4.5 million at its Polish plant in Sroda more than 10,000 people at 43 production and engi- Slaska to modernize production, also adding new ca- neering locations in 19 countries. In 2018, Vibracoustic pacity for microcellular polyurethane components. reported sales of $2.37 billion and is a subsidiary of the Boecking said the firm also is constructing a new pro- Freudenberg Group. duction site in Chongqing, China, with production for Of its 43 sites, 21 are research and development labs NVH components set to begin in 2020.

in the next few years, “especially for engine and battery cooling applications.” Tristone Tristone expects to grow about 10 percent in 2019 to $360 million in sales Continued from page 1 from $326 million in 2019 thanks to handle booked business with major start-ups throughout its European original equipment manufacturers. plants, including sites in Poland, the Tristone will spend an estimated $8.3 Czech Republic, Slovakia and Turkey, million on the expanded hose manufac- he said. Also contributing to that in- turing and logistics halls as well as for crease will be the firm’s new plant in the the additional machinery and equipment, U.S. along with production facilities in he said, adding that completion of the Mexico, India and China. expansion is expected by March 2020. Looking farther ahead, the company “Total plant production and logistic hopes to boost revenues another 24 per- space (in the entire complex) currently is cent in 2020 to reach close to $440 mil- about 119,500 square feet without the lion based on booked business with further expansion of 66,700 square feet global OEMs in Europe, the NAFTA re- (at the hose and logistics halls),” Froelich gion, China and India, despite a weaker said. Also not included is space used for automotive business in some markets. the engineering laboratory and offices. Tristone opened a new hose manufac- Tristone, which has an overall work turing facility in Mooresville, N.C., in force of more than 3,400 employees, April 2019 to help expand its reach in currently employs close to 700 at its the NAFTA region. The plant primarily Walbrzych complex and expects to add supports automotive customers in the another 200 employees in the next two U.S. and Canada. While the facility years, the company said. currently is producing hose systems, the The production plant produces a broad company plans to add plastic pipe and range of products, including engine and plastic surge tank production for engine battery cooling hoses, automated engine and battery cooling applications for ma- cooling hoses with Creatube technology, jor OEMs at the site in the near future. wrapped hoses as well as single-layer In October 2018, the firm opened a and multilayer plastic pipes. factory in India with the production of Its automotive customers include plastic surge tanks for a leading auto- Ford, Volvo, RSA, Nissan, FCA, PSA, motive customer and is preparing for Daimler, BMW, JLR and Ferrari. the start-up of the manufacture of plas- Froelich anticipates the firm could tic surge tanks and engine cooling hose Above: Tristone officials and local representatives celebrate the expansion at its reach a significant breakthrough in the for other automotive customers in the Walbrzych, Poland, plant designed to capitalize on growth in the region. Below: market with new plastic pipe products country. The new addition will expand the firm’s rubber hose and plastic pipes production lines to better serve automotive original equipment manufacturers.

A look inside Tristone’s Walbrzych, Poland, manufacturing facility. 22 Rubber & Plastics News • July 29, 2019 www.rubbernews.com BMW joins global sustainable NR platform European Rubber Journal spanning nearly 20 million acres of land, with more than 80 for rubber farmers, deforestation and land-grabbing, while MUNICH—German car maker BMW A.G. has joined percent grown on small farms, making it difficult to moni- working to ensure responsible sourcing of natural rubber. the Global Platform for Sustainable Natural Rubber, a coa- tor social and environmental growing conditions. All GPSNR founding members have committed to im- lition of stakeholders from across the natural rubber val- “We have to avoid the production environment for natural prove social and environmental conditions for cultivation ue-chain, including many major tire makers. rubber becoming like that for palm oil, which can lead to and urge their business partners toward more sustainabil- The move is a “rather logical approach,” considering the difficult, non-transparent social and ecological conditions ity, BMW said. amount of rubber used in the automotive industry, the in the regions concerned,” said Vanessa Buchberger, who is BMW joins Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. as Munich-based company said. responsible for sustainable purchasing at BMW. vehicle makers to join the GPSNR and pledge to adhere to “BMW needs around 24,000 (metric) tons of rubber a Although BMW only purchases NR indirectly through its its principles. year for tires alone,” the company said, noting this decision tire maker suppliers, it said “transparency and sustainabili- Tire company members are: Apollo Tyres Ltd.; Bridgestone links to its efforts to combat climate change. ty throughout the value chain are part of the company’s Corp.; Continental A.G.; Cooper Tire & Rubber Co.; Goodyear; In a statement about joining the sustainability effort, philosophy.” Hankook Tire Co. Ltd.; Kumho Tire Co. Inc.; Michelin; Noki- BMW said in most cases natural rubber cultivation takes Launched in March at a gathering of stakeholders in Sing- an Tyres P.L.C.; Pirelli & C. S.p.A.; Sumitomo Rubber Indus- place in monocultures in Southeast Asia, across an area apore, the GPSNR aims to address issues such as conditions tries Ltd.; Toyo Tire Corp.; and Yokohama Rubber Co. Ltd.

details vague, Sharp said. more space has opened up. ing at one unit,” he said. “There’s now “This is September 2018, so it’s still a hot Momentive Performance Materials going to be more than one company that Silicone time. People were still freaking out about Inc. announced that it will be expanding actually has the commercial and busi- supply,” Sharp said. “It basically says, its facility in China, as well as two other ness side of those plants. It’ll be interest- Continued from page 1 ‘We’re going to add capacity. We don’t know smaller Chinese joint ventures that con- ing to see who wins and how do you additional time, with China’s supply then where. We don’t know what. We don’t know tinue to develop downstream production, manage when you have one asset but two still running at 50-75 percent capacity, how much. We don’t know when. But we Sharp said. Elkem Silicones said it would companies that use that one asset.” Sharp said. As Asian buyers became want to let you guys know that capacity’s be expanding its product offerings. Another big shakeup for the industry willing to pay higher prices for silicone, coming, so everybody doesn’t get a little bit Shin-Etsu Chemical Co. said it would was the purchase of Momentive by a part- the European suppliers swung its supply crazy and go out there and start switching be boosting its silicone output, which is nership of three South Korean firms, in- there to support demand. away from silicone to other things.’ ” to say “they’re going to push the pedal to cluding KCC Corp., Wonik QnC Corp. and Then, as monomer supply became Capacity announcements were meant the ground a little bit harder on what SJL Partners L.L.C., he said. In recent tight for North America, equipment to help stabilize the market to hold over they have right now,” Sharp said. It has years, Momentive went through bank- breakdowns hit, taking regional opera- customers struggling under the reduc- invested in downstream operations in ruptcy to deal with debt, and also ran into tional rates down for up to two months. tions, Sharp said. Some specified up- North America, including its Akron fa- issues with labor unions and environmen- Another North American producer dealt stream production, meaning an increase cility, and started possible planning on tal conditions at the company’s Waterford, with labor strikes, and the issues in in monomer production, where increases upstream improvements in Japan. N.Y., facility. He said that Momentive is conjunction as the European market fo- in downstream capacity meant a wider Two of the local players in the silicone more than three times the size of KCC, cused on Asia created a supply gap in range of products once more silicone market, Hoshine Silicon Industry Co. Ltd. which would stretch its financial and la- North America, Sharp said. monomer became available. and Dongyue Group Co. Ltd., have both bor resources thin. KCC also assumed the “Suddenly we have two producers in Dow announced an expansion to invest announced capacity increases, Sharp outstanding labor and environmental fac- North America, one had a catastrophic both in upstream and downstream produc- said. Dongyue started construction on its tors for Momentive in the $3 billion deal. event, one had labor strikes. Both are run- tion. Currently, the only official announce- expansion in the first quarter of 2018. Acting at about one-third the size of Mo- ning at about 50 percent capacity and we’re ment for upstream monomer production “They actually have quite a bit of con- mentive, KCC is having to be extremely getting nothing from Europe,” Sharp said. has been at Dow’s Chinese operations. struction. They got past the planning cautious with its new business. As those factors played out through “Right now, there hasn’t been anything stages, beyond putting a shovel in the “They’re up against the ropes right the year, it reached the point for sched- upstream announced for North America ground,” Sharp said. “They’re the fur- from the beginning,” he said. “There’s uled maintenance shutdowns, he said. yet, but there has been downstream infra- thest along of anybody that’s announced definitely not going to be $500 million While some shutdowns were able to be structure improvements announced here capacity expansions right now. Hoshine investments taking place.” opted out of, the fear of another catastro- in North America,” he said. “There’s prob- is still in the planning stages.” KCC will likely start looking for plac- phe pushed others through. Continuous ably still going to be more to come with While several expansions have been es for consolidation and reduction of growth was still happening across sili- these announcements, but these are what’s announced, the details surrounding costs, probably in avenues found during cone markets worldwide. out there right now.” them means actual capacity changes are due diligence, rather than putting out “Leading into all of these events, we Wacker Chemie A.G.’s initial announce- still some distance off, Sharp said. any new money, Sharp said. were probably hitting about 75 percent ment was also vague, that the company He gave the example that if “Sharp capacity of what was out there in the would be adding silicone without naming Silicones” said it would be adding silicone Trade war market at that time,” Sharp said. “When the continent where the supply would be capacity, it would take a year for plan- If it weren’t for the U.S.’s current trade you hit 75 percent, and you see that added. In later releases, Wacker said ning, engineering, design, stability and war with China, supply would be dump- you’re on continuous growth, and there’s downstream improvements would be setup. Then it would take another year to ing into the U.S. at aggressive prices, no reason to assume there’s going to be taking place at its Adrian, Mich., facility, build the plant, and another six months Sharp said. As it stands, the main tariff any plateauing or dropping off, you know Sharp said. Upstream improvements to optimize the plant once it gets moving codes for silicone in its primary forms at you’re going to tap out and you’re going to have been announced for China, but in- to actually get product to sell. That puts 3 percent across the board. In its elasto- need to add capacity at some point.” formation is scarce other than that’s the soonest new product reaching the meric form, it has no initial tariff on it. where the additional volume is going to market between 2-3 years away. However, silicone is named on the addi- Expansion announcements go. Monomer expansion could also be part “I over-analyze a lot of these press re- tional tariff list, which includes a 25 As the year went on, capital expansion of Wacker’s Charleston, Tenn., facility leases because of the wording that gets percent tariff that can be stacked onto announcements began to show up from that recently began making fumed silica, in there,” he said. “But when they start the previous 3 percent for a 28 percent several silicone suppliers, but most left or its Burghausen, Germany, site where saying things about how they’re looking increase coming into North America for at expanding and evaluating where to Chinese monomer supply. Shipping costs put it—if they’re still evaluating where have also gone up 35-40 percent com- to put it, they’re not super far along on pared to 2017, with congestion in Chi- the engineering planning. Unless there’s nese ports and lack of shipping contain- a shovel in the ground, you’re still 2-3 ers and vessels, and lack of truck drivers Company Name Web address/Email Phone# Page years out. And there’s not a whole lot of once the materials reach North America. shovels in the ground right now.” Also on top of the duties, most buyers Akrochem Corp. www.akrochem.com 330-535-2100 2 aren’t bringing in full containers just for [email protected] 800-321-2260 Merger activity themselves, so some varying warehous- Akron Dispersions www.akrondispersions.com 330-666-0045 10 Further complicating the addition of ing costs are likely added as well. [email protected] capacity are two major transitions for “Quite a few” customers are still in alloca- silicone producers, Dow and Momentive, tion for silicone supply, Sharp said. “When CENTROTRADE RUBBER www.corrie-maccoll.com 757-518-2300 9 Sharp said. you’re on allocation and you have a product INC. [email protected] 800-520-7669 The good side of the DowDuPont merger you can make, sometimes we’re willing to is that when the separation completes, it pay more to go and get that material.” Ergon, Inc. www.ergonnsa.com 601-933-3148 24 could mean more focus again on the core But getting approval for additional [email protected] parts of the individual businesses, he said. cost and dealing with qualifying a Messe Dusseldorf www.mdna.com 312-781-5185 5 “Right now, there’s just so much going on source is difficult, especially if a custom- [email protected] and nobody knows what’s going where,” he er is comparing to a domestic source said. “There’s just a lot of confusion.” that will eventually get supply out once Renkert Oil, LLC www.renkertoil.com 415-408-3706 11 The downside of this part of the separa- more capacity is online, he said. [email protected] tion will be that the company’s silicone sec- “It make you a little more hesitant tor, what used to be Dow Corning, will end and delays some of that,” he said. “But Rubber Division ACS/ www.rubber.org 330-972-7424 7 up in different segments, as health care is people that are delaying are in the hopes International Elastomer [email protected] going to DuPont, and regular Dow product that those allocations will go away do- Conference lines will remain at Dow, Sharp said. mestically within the next year. Which “The problem is that there’s only two we talked about earlier, it takes 2-3 A reader service from to Rubber Industry Advertisers plants, and they’re all going to be operat- years for new capacity to come on.” EDITORIAL-DRIVEN LIVE-STREAMS

Thursday, August 15 - 2 PM EDT

SILICONE MARKET UPDATE

FEATURING

Veteran RPN journalists Bruce Meyer and Kyle Brown will cover silicone availability, price volatility and regulatory issues for this ever-growing industry segment.

Bruce Meyer Kyle Brown Editor Reporter

REGISTER TODAY! www.rubbernews.com/live/silicone Quality Drives Us Ergon’s HyPrene Process Oils deliver reliable results to some of the most recognizable tire and rubber compounding brands throughout the world. HyPrene’s superior quality is evidenced through clean solvency, viscosity and consistency.

About Ergon Family owned and operated since 1954, Ergon has grown to be the world’s largest producer of naphthenic specialty products and the world’s second largest producer of bright stock. With a global sales and distribution network, Ergon offers dependable, secure supply and efficient delivery.

Visit ergonnsa.com or contact us to learn more.

ergonnsa.com North & South America 601-933-3000

ergoninternational.com EMEA + 32 2 351 23 75 | Asia + 65 68081547